A Cullen Family Christmas Carol
by paramorebrighter
Summary: AH/AU Bella's first trip to England at Christmas isn't exactly a Dickens novel, especially when her host family's son seems to hate her guts. Special thanks to my britpicker and beta, pippapear!
1. Chapter 1

**_Disclaimer- I am not Stephenie Meyer or Charles Dickens._**

**_I'm a little behind on proof-reading my other fanfic, so I'm going to post something else in time for Christmas. Hope you all enjoy._**

* * *

My dorm room was still cold after all the complaints I had submitted to the front desk. The maintenance staff never truly ever got it fixed to my liking and I was simply told to submit a new request. It was frustrating that this was how RAs were treated out here on Perry State University Campus in Spokane. At least I was taking my best friend here at Perry, Angela, and myself to Seattle tonight to catch up with Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett. It would be good to see them again. Our Winter break was starting, I couldn't wait for Christmas.

I went down to the elevator bank. There was no wait for once. On the first floor, Angela sat cross-legged on the front desk while her boyfriend and our fellow RA, Ben Cheney, was printing something up on Maxine, our dorm secretary's printer, since the computer labs were closed. Angela is almost six feet tall and wears her glasses all the time, but she finally listened to Rose and Alice and put some highlights in light brown hair, and she looks really good. Ben is kind of Asian-looking, I think he's part Korean, but nobody can tell. He's about two inches shorter than Ang, but nobody can tell when they're together because Ang always slumps. Ben's not an RA, just a Desk Assistant who gets paid to sit a the front desk and watch the drunks come in between midnight at eight am and call the RAs when there's an emergency. Most of the RAs had checked out by now. Our Hall Director and Assistant Hall Director were the only ones staying over the break.

"Hey Bella!" Ben called.

"Hey!" Angela called. "Here," she tossed me the other walkie talkie. "Ready to do our final room inspection?"

"Yes, I am ready to _go_," I said. I pressed the 'talk' button a few times to hear the static. "Frosh Dorm to Frosh Base, testing," I said into it.

"Frosh Base is a go," Ben replied.

"Thank you Frosh Base," I said. We inspected the hallways, the stairwells, and then started on our respective floors. There was nothing to report in the bathrooms except them being nasty. We went onto check each of the rooms.

During the mid-semester check, I had discovered lots of freshmen with candles, pets asides from lizards, fish, and frogs, and lots of halogen lamps and illegal loft beds not in accordance with university standards. It seemed the girls had learned their lessons this time- I only had to make one exception- a girl had left her betta fish to starve over the four week holiday. It was swimming around in a giant beer stein with glass boulders on the bottom.

"I can't let her do that!" Angela cried. "I'll take it back to Forks with me, and I'll bring it back next semester!"

"We're stealing a fish?"

"We'll write a note on her white board."

We went down to the front desk, dismissing Ben for the break. "Have a good time in Coeur D'Alene," Ang said. They went to the lounge. I saw them just for a moment, making out on the security cameras, but I turned away to give them privacy. I myself had had a few bad months, as of late.

I knocked on Mal's, our Hall Director's, door. He answered, still looking hungover from the holiday party on the Strip, as students liked to call it, where all the bars were and we had done our pub crawl. We had closed the dorm to the students, but not the staff, two days ago. "We're going," I said, handing him the walkie. "We dismissed Ben, so the dorm is officially all yours and Kendra's."

"Frosh Dorm is closed for the break," Mal said into the walkie.

"Bye, Frosh! See ya next year!" the HD from MLK Dorm said through the static.

"See ya!" JFK Dorm said.

The other dorms gave us the good-byes. "Have a safe trip, Bella," Mal said.

"I will," I said. "Thanks."

In the lobby, Ang was waiting, her lips all swollen, but she was pretending nothing happened. "Meet you in the lobby in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes," she agreed.

After we loaded out suitcases into Angela's car, we packed up and went westward bound to Seattle, our new buddy, who we nicknamed "Theta the Beta" swam around the McAlister's cup happily.

We stopped at a Denny's for a quick dinner and I did most of the driving for the four hours until we got to Jasper and Rosalie Hale's condo near downtown. We had to buzz the front gate to be let in.

"Hey, come on in," Rose said, opening the gate. The gates opened for us and Ang was able to drive right into the parking garage.

She helped me get my suit case and duffle bag out. Hey, I was going to be leaving for two and a half weeks! We took Theta upstairs with us. Rose and Jasper lived on the 8th floor of the building. Their parents bought them the condo their freshman year so they didn't have to face the horrors of the dorms like we did at Perry. Rosalie, Alice Cullen, Angela and I were best friends junior and senior year at Forks High in Forks, Washington. We had to split up because of what we wanted to do in life, but it kind of worked out for the best- we were keeping touch. Our other friend, Alice, was majoring in fashion design at NYU. Rose met us at the elevator looking annoyed. Even annoyed, she looked like a _Sports Illustrated_ Supermodel she was so pretty. She was almost as tall as Angela and had long naturally blonde locks and steel-blue eyes.

"What's happened?" I asked.

"They couldn't leave the XBOX alone," Rose grumbled. "Come on."

"I gotta go," Angela said. "I'm gonna try and see if I can make it to Forks before midnight."

"Are you sure?" Rose asked. "Let me make you a cup of coffee, Ang!"

"That'll take too long," Angela said.

"How about a coke for the road?"

"Alright. Let me say hi to the guys."

"If you can get their attention," I muttered.

In their condo, Emmett and Jasper were get shot at during _Call Duty 2: Modern Warfare_. "Hey guys!" Rose shouted. "Angela's here!"

"Hey Ang," they boy replied, eyes not leaving the screen. Emmett had been on a football scholarship at the University of Las Vegas his freshman year until his ACL was torn and then, he lost it when surgery couldn't fix it. He transferred out and came to a University here in Seattle so he could be closer to his long-time girlfriend, Rosalie.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Angela replied, being her good-natured self.

"Here- I don't have much in the fridge right now," Rose said, opening it up. "I've got Coke, Diet Coke, and a Dr. Pepper. Oh! Here's a Mountain Dew!"

"Dr. Pepper, please, that'll keep me awake longer," Angela said. "Thanks! I wish I wasn't having to run like this but…"

"I know," Rose said. We took turns hugging Angela before sending her on her merry way. "Have a safe trip. If you need somebody to talk to you to keep you awake, call us."

"I will," Angela said. "You guys be safe, alright?"

"We will, no talking to gypsies, right?" I joked.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm afraid that fish is freezing down there. I'm gonna go."

"Okay. Good night!" I said.

As Angela left, Rosalie brought out the cookies she had been saving for me- peanut butter, chocolate chip and toffee bit cookies and poured a glass of milk for me. We went into her room. She sat down on the bed and began sorting through the last-minute laundry.

"So, you want to talk about it?" she asked.

"What's there to talk about?" I asked sitting down at her computer. The airhead hadn't changed her passwords since Thanksgiving when I last saw her. I logged into Facebook and logged in under my email. "James was a lying, greedy, two-timing pig. Hey, these are really good cookies."

"Don't change the subject. You wouldn't answer any phone calls after it ended, and now, you're not talking to anybody about it," Rosalie said.

"Maybe because this is one boyfriend I don't want to discuss," I said. Under status, I clicked the cursor and it said, _Bella is…_ What was I right now? _so over it,_ I wrote and tabbed to the 'Post' button, pressing return. Ben was _missing my Angie, already X-/_, Angela had updated from the road that she was on her way to Forks, I had been tagged in a few pictures from the pub crawl that had been uploaded by my fellow RAs. I looked high in a few of them. Charlie only got an email address to check up on me, he didn't put up with this myspace and facebook crap, so he'd never see his daughter chugging a beer out of a three-foot long glass in a bar called O'Sullivans online. Hopefully. As for James… I wanted to defriend James, but I hadn't figured out how to do it, yet. I hadn't blocked him, either, out of some masochistic scourge in my soul to secretly know how he was doing. His status said, _James believes All things Must Die._ I was a lit major, I knew that was Alfred Lord Tennyson. I wanted to believe it had to mean his relationship with me. I wasn't going to be the one to make the phone call and ask him if it meant me or not. Nope, not me.

"Bella, are you listening to me?" Rosalie asked. She was painting her nails. "I don't think you should go back to him, but I _know_ you're thinking about it."

"No, I'm not thinking about it!" I cried.

"You've done it before," Rose said. "Just promise me, you won't. Let this whole relationship just end. It's run its course."

"I can't Rose," I said softly.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer- I am not Stephenie Meyer or Charles Dickens._**

**_I'm a little behind on proof-reading my other fanfic, so I'm going to post something else in time for Christmas. Hope you all enjoy._**

* * *

I adjusted my position for the fourth time. I was the only one flying coach today- Rose, Emmett and Jasper were all in first class on the way to New York. And I had only been able to buy a middle seat. Ugh. Where was the justice in this world? And of course, it was a full flight and there was a screaming baby sitting next to me. I had spent the night on the folding couch bed in the living room while listening to Rose and Emmett hump and moan like gorillas. I should have thought to bring ear plugs. Jasper could sleep through a Civil War battle.

We were meeting Emmett and Alice's parents, Esme and Carlisle, at La Guardia. Then, the seven of us were going to fly to London Heathrow to meet Esme's sister, Liz, whom I had met a few times in the two years I had lived in Forks and stayed with my father, Charlie. Liz was married to another international doctor who was also a millionaire like Carlisle, Tony Masen. They lived in Chicago until about seven years ago, when he got offered a seat on the International Board of Pediatric Surgeons. Angela, Rosalie and I had been asked to come, seeing as we were all Alice's best friends, and she had wanted to take us all there since we had all become best friends. She and Emmett had gone to visit them several times. They had some kid, but I hardly cared.

The more miserable I was, the more fantastical I imagined London to be, especially at Christmastime. Carlisle, with his theatrical knack, would read us _A Christmas Carol_ by Charlie Dickens by the fireplace while we roasted Chestnuts. I'd probably burn myself, but luckily, there were two skilled doctors there. Speaking of Charles Dickens, there would be carolers dressed like something out of the Victorian Era. There would be giant red bows and soot on everything and gas lamps and carriages and snow and the royal guard with their giant furry hats--

Somebody behind me kneed me in the small of my back. I sighed and sat up, opening my eyes. I wished Angela was here. She'd be riding coach with me. She didn't go because her parents wanted her to be there because they were pretty sure it was her great aunt Suzy's last Christmas and she was ready to kick the bucket and they wanted her to be there. Angela claimed she didn't mind, but how could she not? The only thing was with this trip, we had to pay for our own plane tickets. My parents were too proud to allow Carlisle and Esme to pay for my ticket, as were Angela's.

_Just ten more hours of this, Bella,_ I told myself. I pulled out my ragged copy of _A Christmas Carol _while I was kicked in the small of my back, again. I turned around and saw that there was a kid, about six, with his feet up against my chair, pressing against it so that he was horizontal in his chair.

"Bobby, honey," his mother said in an annoying, high-pitched voice, seeing me. "Some people don't like when you do that to their seat on the plane."

_SOME people don't like it? NObody likes it, you dumb bitch! _I thought crankily. _Time to smack that kid! _I imagined her to be some bewildered-looking lady with giant, red 80's hair and bad stirrup pants and a clown make-up, although I didn't dare turn around again. He didn't stop.

How I had turned out so good without my parents beating me was questionable. I opened up _A Christmas Carol_ and began reading about Ebenezer Scrooge. Little Bobby Annoying wasn't letting up.

I was ever-so-grateful when Rosalie came down the aisle and spotted me. Bobby's mom got up to go the bathroom.

"Hey, Bella," she said. "Sorry, there aren't any open seats in first class on this flight."

My seat popped forward again from Bobby. "That's- Okay," I said. "Just buy me lunch- in- New York."

"Bella, this is getting ridiculous," Rosalie said. She grabbed the head of my seat and glared at the kid, getting down to eye-level with him. "You are going to _stop. That_._Now_," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Or I will call the flight attendant up from first class and have them fling you out of the plane over the Rocky Mountains where Sasquatch will eat you before you can get your presents from Santa. You got it?" I wish I could have seen the look on little Bobby's face, because his feet left my seat. A couple of people around us started clapping.

"Rose!" I cried.

"It's okay, his mom's not around," Rosalie said. "I owe you lunch." She sashayed back to first class. I took a glance back at Bobby, and he looked so scared there were tears rolling down his face. His mom didn't even notice when she got back to her seat. She started doing needlepoint, again, humming _Jingle Bells_ to herself. Although the flight was cramped, it was more comfortable than ever.

When we finally landed in New York, Rose, Emmett, Jasper and I bypassed all the New York food stands to go meet Alice, Esme and Carlisle at the entrance to the international terminal. "The food's better here," Rose promised. I was positively starving by now, so I believed her.

Carlisle was on his PDA trying to wrap up some last-minute things and Esme was calling her sister internationally. Tiny, petite Alice was flipping through a catalogue, sitting on her carry-on bag. She bounced up when she saw us. "Hey, everyone!" she squealed. She has always had a love for fashion. She was wearing a paisley empire-waist top a black leggings. Her navy blue peacoat was on top of her suitcase and her black leather slouch-boots matched her black beret. Only Alice could wear a beret and not look like a complete dork. Her luggage she had checked probably all matched the Kate Spade carry-on rolling bag back behind her. She was never known for packing lightly. She jumped on Jasper and wrapped her legs around his middle, she was hugging him so hard. "I missed you!" she cried happily.

"I missed you too, Ali," Jasper said.

"I gotta go," Carlisle said, hanging up. Only Esme stayed on the phone for a more minutes. "Bella, Jasper, everyone- I'm so glad you all made it!" He took turns hugging me and Rose, then did that goofy guy-buddy handshake thing with Emmett and Jasper, trying to prove that he was still cool, although he was the old guy, now. Emmett rolled his eyes behind his father's back. "I am so excited you're all getting to come with us! You're going to love England!"

"Alright, thanks, Liz," Esme said, hanging up. "Okay, everyone, Edward's going to pick us up with a driver at Heathrow."

"Who's Edward?"

"My nephew," Esme said, as if I hadn't been listening all those years I had been spending the night at their house when they lived in Forks.

_Geez,_ I thought. _What kind of kid goes by 'Edward' and not 'Ned' or 'Eddie' or something that's not such a mouthful? Sounds like a dork._

Well, I'm sure Edward had his own group of nerdy chess-playing friends in London he'd much rather hang out with than us. We'd do just fine for ourselves. According to Esme, Emmett knew how to navigate the underground rail system pretty well. We could entertain ourselves.

"Why can't Aunt Lizzie do it?" Alice whined, holding Jasper's hand.

"Because she's got a meeting with the American Red Cross in London when we land that she can't skip out on," Esme said.

"Is that such a tragedy?" I muttered.

"Ugh, Edward," Emmett muttered. He grinned. "He's a bit of a geek, the last time I saw him, but he's probably not so bad, now."

"Yeah," Alice said.

"He's not a _geek_," Esme cried.

"The last time we saw him, he wears glasses, a retainer and plays piano. Major nerd, I'd say," Alice said. "And he was soooo skinny. I mean, I weighed more than he did!" She laughed. That was saying something- Alice was tiny, she had always been tiny, since she was so petite- I had to laugh, too.

"His voice cracked all over the place," Emmett said.

"What about his lisp?" Alice squealed, gleefully.

"'Hi, coushin Emmett- wanna check out my mold and shpore colleshun?'" Emmett made his voice crack up and down like a teenager's. "I swear to God, he had one- he was that much of a science nerd." We all laughed.

"You all will be nice and civil with your cousin when you see him," Esme commanded.

"_If_ I can see him," Emmett wise-cracked. "That shrimp was shorter than Alice!"

"Liz said he had a growth spurt in college," Esme said, defensively. "He was a late bloomer."

That just caused us to giggle more.

"Dear, you're not helping," Carlisle said. He pulled me aside. "Bella, sweetheart, I hope you don't mind, but I took a liberty and upgraded your seat, since you were the only one of us not sitting in first class. I hope you don't mind."

"Mind?" I asked, thinking of little Bobby kicking my seat. "No, I don't mind at all. Thank you, Carlisle! Just don't tell my parents. Hey, food!"

"Okay, okay. We all have to stop, now," Rose said.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

* * *

I wasn't sure I could ever fly coach or business class ever again. That extra amount of room and the amount of service that I got from the flight attendant was better than anything I had ever before. I watched _Hot Fuzz_ with Jasper and Alice, and the three of us laughed until we cried. Most of the people in first class that didn't know us thought we were obnoxious, but our traveling companions were entertained watching us watch the movie. When it was over, Jasper put on his ear plugs and eye shade and went to sleep. Alice did not.

"So, Bella," she said over Jasper. "When are you going to tell me about what really happened with James?"

"There's nothing to tell," I said. "Why does everybody want to know?"

"Because you ended it so quickly with him," she said. "You never talk about it."

"Maybe I'm not ready," I said, putting my headphones back on.

We landed in Heathrow airport after I tried to sleep through most of the flight. We had to go through customs. My passport was in my front pocket of my carry-on. This was the first stamp I had ever gotten from Europe. I had to fill out a weird form, first. Oh well.

Despite the flight, Alice was bouncing up and down, holding Jasper's hand. She was still hyped up on four hours of sleep. I caught a glance at myself as I walked past some windows- my mascara was smudged and my hair was a rat's nest. I combed it with my fingers, slightly and popped a piece of gum to cover up my morning breath. This was the waterproof mascara, too, damnit! It wasn't going anywhere until I got my facewash out. Somehow, Rose looked amazing.

After baggage claim, we went to the pick up/drop off. It was a mass of black and yellow taxis, drivers on the wrong side. I almost took a picture, but I didn't want to look too American tourist. Paparazzi were taking pictures of Rosalie and Emmett. She was wearing her Jackie O. sunglasses. They were harassing her as if she were some major model or singer or actress before they realized she wasn't famous, she was just beautiful. A man in a black trench coat with a bowler's hat stood with a sign that said, "Cullen Family" in front of a dark van with shaded windows. Unmistakably for us.

"Hi, Dr. Carlisle Cullen," Carlisle said, extending a hand.

"Nice to meet you, sir," the man said in an unmistakable British accent. We were really here! "This way, if you please."

He took our luggage and loaded it into the back of the van. "Where's Edward?" Esme muttered, absent-mindedly.

The passenger-side door opened (well, would you call that shotgun here?) and a long, lean frame stepped out in a pair of scrubs and a heavy parka. He had unruly gold-red hair from the back that made him appear even taller than he already was. My jaw dropped as he turned around to face us- he had the most beautiful model-like features I had ever seen in my whole life- a Romanesque nose, high cheek bones, a strong chin, a strong hair line and forehead and long, long eye lashes. The eye lashes lifted to reveal the most sparkling pair of green eyes I had ever seen in my whole life- and then his perfectly full lips drew back in a smile to greet his aunt and uncle and revealed dazzling white teeth.

I think I started drooling at one point.

"Hi, Aunt Esme, Uncle Carlisle. Welcome to London," he said, nodding in approval, with a distinctly American accent.

I sat in the further seat from the back as possible. I was too busy drooling over cousin Edward to notice any plausible conversation between anyone in the van. Occasionally, I picked up bits and pieces of the conversation, like "medical school" and "Oxford" and "three more years" but I felt like a complete ass for laughing at all the jokes Emmett and Alice made about Edward's lisp and his gawkiness the last time they saw him. There was no lisp- he didn't wear his retainer anymore. He was as tall as Jasper, if not taller with his hair. I just wondered how long it had been since his cousins last saw him.

At one point, Rosalie poked me, none-too-gently in the ribs to point out that I was missing all the sites. There was only one site I wanted to gaze at.

When the van stopped, we were at a large townhouse. It was quite beautiful- like a brownstone in New York on Park Avenue, just prettier, older, and classier. The van driver helped get the suitcases out. Alice brought the equivalent of my whole closet in Frosh Dorm in suitcases. I followed Edward's seriously perfect ass up the steps as he opened the door. It was unlocked because, of course, the housekeeper was just cooking dinner.

"Just leave your suitcases here, Hawkins will take them to your rooms," Edward instructed. "I'll give you the grand tour of Mom and Dad's house since three of you have never been here."

The house was larger than it looked. The first floor had a formal sitting room, a formal dining room, and foyer with a beautiful grand staircase. All of this had been made up professionally. There was a guest "toilet" under the stairs. Behind those rooms, there was a less formal dining/sitting room, and behind that, a kitchen that lead into a casual room with giant leather couches and a flatscreen TV entertainment center and a bar, behind it, a small bathroom with a shower and a toilet. The basement was half wine cellar and the other half was the guest apartment for the important guests, where Carlisle and Esme would be staying. It had it's own bathroom and sitting area. We went upstairs to the third floor, where the guest bedrooms were- there were three bedrooms and a long hallway with a couch and a reading lamp. One had two double beds in it, and Alice, Rose and I were sleeping here. The other two were smaller, but Emmett and Jasper had those, respectively. There was one bathroom on this floor, and I knew it would be a comedy of errors trying to shower here between the five of us. When I showered in there, I'd definitely be locking the door.

"What's on the second floor?" Jasper asked as we went downstairs for tea.

"That's where Mom and Dad's room is. I have a room up there, too, which is where I'll be sleeping," Edward said.

I could only imagine how much this cost in London Real Estate.

I should have been more excited to be having my first real London Tea, but I wasn't. I was seated beside Edward, but I was suddenly extremely drowsy and lethargic. I could hardly reach for the little cucumber sandwiches and I was getting chilly.

"You need to go to bed, Bella," Alice said. "It's the jet-lag. We're all feeling it."

"No, I'm gonna stay up," I yawned. "Until bedtime."

Carlisle and Edward were having a heavy conversation about the differences in American medical schools and British medical schools. Their voices suddenly got long and slow, like they were being drawn out. I closed my eyes for a moment, and time, space and direction were lost to the darkness. I was jolted awake when a strong pair of arms caught me.

I had almost fallen out of my chair.

I gazed up into Edward's eyes.

"I think you need to go to bed," he said. _Only if you'll take me, _I thought drowsily.

"We'll take her," Alice volunteered. "Come on, Bella."

My jet-lag was taking me over. She helped me stand up on my two feet and she and Rose escorted me up the stairs. "Man," Alice said. "I thought you were going to hit the floor, there."

"Maybe it is a good idea for me to take a nap," I admitted.

"Yeah, I'll take one, too," Rose said. "I don't travel internationally enough. Jasper and Emmett looked like they were about to lose it, too. I"ll be up soon."

I kicked off my shoes, unbuttoned my jeans and stepped out of them. I climbed into the bed in my sweater and tights. I climbed under the duvet and was lost to the world.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

* * *

When I woke up, it was close to two-thirty in the morning, according to the clock on the nightstand. Alice slept soundly in the bed next to Rose and mine. Rose was tossing and turning.

I tried to go back to sleep, but my internal clock didn't let me. I was on American Pacific Time, still, not Greenwich Mean Time. I had been warned of this. This was usually when I got up and went to the gym with Angela in Spokane at the PSU rec center. Maybe Angela was up by now in Forks, maybe her body was letting her sleep in.

I groaned as quietly as possible and slipped out of bed, slipping on my pajama bottoms. I hadn't brushed my teeth at all. I looked out the window at London at Christmas. There was no snow, no soot. It looked like any metropolitan area in winter. I frowned. There was an ambulance siren in the background. This isn't what I imagined. I had been so wrapped up in gazing at Edward Masen, I had completely forgotten about looking at London altogether on the way up.

Searching my suitcase, I found my toiletries and underwear. I went to the bathroom to shower and brush my teeth. It was a larger bathroom than I expected. I turned on the water faucets and figured out how the hot water worked- it wasn't that different. Slipping out of my clothes, I stepped under the spray, letting the heat relax my stiffness. I hoped that the shower water would make me a little sleepy so I could go back to bed. It didn't. With my hair wet and the mascara washed off from under my eyes, I dressed back in my PJs and brushed the wet-sock taste out of my mouth. There. I resembled Bella Swan we all knew and loved, again.

I wasn't sleepy, so I'd try another trick. I went down to the first floor and to the kitchen. I checked for milk- I wasn't sure if it was soy milk or rice milk, I read the container closely and decided it was real milk from a cow. I carefully searched the cabinets for a saucepan. I found one under the heavy pot for spaghetti.

With every ounce of patience and care, I slowly lifted the spaghetti pot out and set it on the floor as quietly as possible so I could get to the saucepan without making noise that would wake the rest of the house up. I very carefully put the saucepan on the stove and turned it on so I could warm the milk. This was what Grandma Marie used to do for me when I was little and couldn't get to sleep at her house.

Right as I was about to put the milk back in the fridge, I saw a form in the doorway, and I jumped a mile, dropping the liter of milk and kicking the spaghetti pot, making it clang across the floor. I stubbed my toe in the process.

"I didn't mean to scare you," Edward said, reaching for the dish towel right as I grabbed my foot that made contact with the spaghetti pot.

"It's alright I always-" We knocked heads with a loud _thunk_. "Ow, God! That hurt!" I cried, grabbing my forehead.

He cried out, grabbing his own head.

Oh, the humiliation. While I thought he was cute, he'd never look at me that way- ever- after this. My klutziness had returned in full force, taking him down with me. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He glared at me for a moment with utter disregard. My cheeks turned the color of a tomato- I'm sure it was my whole body, too. "Really, I'm a complete klutz," I babbled. "I do stuff like this all the time-"

"Then you should be a little more careful," he snapped, kneeling down to pick up the liter of milk that had landed on its side and was spilling its contents on to the floor. "God," he grumbled as he set it onto the counter.

"I'll clean it up," I promised awkwardly, although I was so embarrassed, I didn't know what to say or do. Milk was all over my fresh pajamas, all over the beautiful tile floor… I was horrified. He kept on mopping it up. "Really, I can handle this!" I cried, pulling a couple of paper towels. The two or three paper towels turned into seven or eight in my haste and the paper towel holder spun off the rack.

"No, you obviously can't," he said. "Hasn't anybody ever told you it's not very polite to snoop when you're a houseguest, Bella?"

I wanted the floor to swallow me. "I- I'm sorry, I didn't know it was a problem," I mumbled. I picked up the saucepan and dumped its contents into the sink in the island and ran upstairs back to my room.

Rose had woken up. "What was that noise?"

"Nothing," I said, nervously. "Just go back to sleep."

What had he meant? I was snooping? God, what happened? Was British hospitality really this icy all the time? No wonder they hated Americans. Did Edward consider himself that English? The only thing I was looking for was a saucepan and milk, for God's sake, not secret documents. What did Edward and his family have to hide?

"I can't get back to sleep," Rose said. "Let's go downstairs and watch British late-night television. Maybe they've got porn on at this hour. What do you think British porn is like? Or do you think they import American porn?"

"Rose, I really don't care," I said. I was _not_ going downstairs. I went to the hallway and started reading on the couch, hoping my clothes would dry soon. I wondered if they'd let me do my own laundry or would the housekeeping staff do it for me? I lost myself for the second time on this trip in _A Christmas Carol_. I didn't feel like reading any of the other books I had brought.

Rose came out of the bedroom. "Okay, what's up?" she asked in a low voice so as not to wake anybody else. She sat down on the couch, tucking her bare feet under herself to keep them warm.

"I just made a fool of myself," I whispered.

"Oh please, who could have seen you at this hour?"

"Edward was up."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to discuss him with you and Alice. They made him out to be this giant dork, and he's so cute. Alice said she hadn't really seen him since they moved out here, so I guess it's really plausible. He went to Scotland for undergrad."

"I kicked a spaghetti pot and dropped a liter of milk in front of him," I said, tucking my own numb toes under myself, too.

Rose thought for a moment. "Big whoop. You do stuff like that all the time."

"He seemed really pissed off," I said. "He said I was snooping in his house."

"God, what stick does he have stuck up his ass?" Rose snorted. "Don't worry about him. If he's going to be that much of a drama queen, maybe Alice was right about him being insufferable."

"Rose, we're staying in his house-"

"If he's going to be a jerk- Bella, listen, honey. You're loved. And wanted here. By all of us. So one person doesn't like you. That shouldn't ruin your whole trip. If he gives you any crap, I'll tell Emmett how rude he's been. Liz said to us that her house was our house last night. That greeting extends to you, I'm sure. She probably doesn't mind you rooting through her kitchen for a saucepan. What were you getting it out for, anyways?"

"To warm up some milk."

"For hot chocolate?"

"No, just warm milk to help me sleep."

"Maybe that will help. Let's do it just to spite him right now."

"No, Rose-"

She grabbed my arm and led me downstairs. The kitchen was completely empty and clean by now, except the saucepan that was soaking in hot soapy water. Rosalie started to wash it by hand. "I guess men can't clean pots and pans, either," she grumbled. "Read _a Christmas Carol_ to me."

I sat down at one of the barstools and began reading _A Christmas Carol_ aloud to Rose while she began to heat up more milk from a new liter in the refrigerator. She shuffled through the cabinets until she found some bars of bittersweet chocolate and threw them in with the milk.

I sat in the living room and Rose carried in two mugs of hot chocolate. I resumed reading aloud. We started taking turns so I could have a chance to sip my drink. We hadn't located marshmallows and it was a little bit bitter, but it was comforting to sit with a friend.

"I gotta take a break," Rose said, putting down the book. She picked up the remote and switched on the TV. "I wonder what's on right now."

"I don't want to get caught watching porn in a stranger's house," I said. "No porn."

"That's a first," Rose giggled.

"Yeah, I sit down at my laptop at school and start cruising the net for porn when I'm done with classes," I said. "In between listening to my residents whine and calling the ambulance on them when they've partied too much, that's exactly what I do."

"Oh my God, it's _Family Guy_!" Rose cried. It was true- it was _Family Guy_- being played here in England. We curled up together and watched for a few minutes. Before I knew it, I was back to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

* * *

When I woke up, it was Jasper and Emmett throwing the British version of Cheetos at Rose and my face. My feet were numb from the cold and my mouth tasted like sour milk.

"She finally woke up!" Emmett cried. I had been sleeping with my head on Rose's hip, and she had been sleeping with her head propped up on the arm rest. Rose sat up groggily.

"You saw nothing," she grumbled, stretching.

"We've got the pictures to prove it," Jasper said. "I'm emailing them to Mom and Dad."

"Come on, we're having a proper British breakfast," Emmett said.

Emmett had started trying to use a British accent and it was annoying the hell out of everybody because he wasn't doing it right. In the kitchen, there was a woman cooking a giant meal. I followed Emmett and Jasper into the informal dining room.

The Masens and the Cullens were waiting. Edward was sulking at the end of the table. I took the seat furthest from him to avoid his gaze. I wondered what he had told his parents about last night.

"Hi, Bella!" Liz cried, standing up. "I didn't get to see you at all yesterday, what with the jet lag and all. Welcome to London!" She hugged me, although I hardly knew her.

"Yes, welcome. I hope your room is comfortable," Tony said. I felt a little guilty- we had fallen asleep on the couch around 4 a.m.

"Yeah, we woke up in the middle of the night, we couldn't go to sleep," I said, blushing.

"Yeah, we made hot chocolate and watched TV. That did the trick," Rose said, throwing a glare at Edward.

"Like I told everyone else yesterday- make yourselves at home, our house is your house, especially during the holidays. We're so excited to have you here," Liz said. She was so genuine, I had to believe her. Her cheeks reddened with excitement- I knew where Alice got it from, now, if she got anything from her Aunt Liz. "Does anyone else want some coffee?"

"Sure," I said. She poured a cup for me while the butler came out with a giant platter of scrambled eggs, and then hot sausages then pancakes and then bacon. I hadn't been aware of how hungry I was until then- I hadn't eaten since the meal on the plane. I hungrily filled up my plate and then began eating like a pig.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Liz asked. "Can I take everyone to Piccadilly Circus or some place tacky, like Madame Toussoud's Wax Museum?"

"The Wax Museum!" Alice cried. "I want to see the wax dummy of Kylie Minogue and Posh and Becks! Did I tell you my design studio worked with them a few months ago?"

"No, you're kidding!" Liz cried.

"What's so special about an ex-Spice Girl?" Rosalie asked.

"They're still big celebrities over here," Liz explained.

"I want to see the Tower of the London," Jasper said.

"I don't," I said. I had no interest in seeing heads getting cut off, even if they were fake.

"Oh come on, Bella, it's not real," Jasper said. "The blood's fake, too."

"It _looks_ fake," Emmett added.

"What about one of the boat tours?" Tony suggested.

"That would be _so_ educational," Carlisle said.

"I want to go shopping, too," Alice whined.

"I doubt the credit card company has deactivated your account because you haven't used it in twenty-four hours," Emmett said, rolling his eyes.

"Alice, you let them know you were going to England, right?" Carlisle asked, suddenly.

"Yes, of course I called ahead!" she cried. "I'm no beginner when it comes to credit cards!"

"Good," Carlisle said, breathing a sigh of relief.

I actually managed to finish my whole breakfast. I had been hungrier than I thought, but unfortunately, when I got upstairs, Emmett was, singing bad lyrics to _Iron Man_in the shower and had the door locked. I couldn't even get my tooth brush out. I saw Rosalie take her toiletries downstairs to the bathroom behind the bar. Jasper had already showered and shaved for the morning before breakfast, and Alice took her stuff down to the basement and kicked her parents out of their bathroom so she could shower, too. All I wanted was my toothbrush. After the water went off in our bathroom, I pounded on the door. "Emmett, let me in!" I shouted.

"I'm nekked, Bella!" he called. "Whoo!"

"_Tooth. Brush_," I replied. "That's all I want!"

"Do you really want to see me nekkid? I don't think Rose would like it!" Damn him. He was enjoying this.

"Bella?"

I saw Edward at the top of the stairs. "Oh, hi," I said, although I really didn't want to see him right now.

"I've got an extra toothbrush in my bathroom if you'd like to use it. Nobody's in there right now. You can use it if you need one."

His expression was so neutral. Why was he being nice to me, suddenly? Suspicious.

"Oh, that's okay, I wouldn't want to snoop through your things," I replied.

"Ta da!" Emmett yelled, throwing open the door. He was standing, soaking wet, with a long hand-towel around his hips. He looked absolutely ridiculous. Edward turned and ran down the stairs. Emmett's cheeks reddened when he realized that Edward had been in the hallway, too and had seen him. I had to laugh. His balls were practically hanging out. I shoved past Emmett and shut him out of the room, but not before grabbing the towel and pulling, leaving him completely naked in the hallway and locking the door. I got the steamy bathroom all to myself for a few minutes.

* * *

We walked in the cool air towards the London subway station. For some reason, Edward came with us. Alice was skipping along, dragging Jasper, while Emmett and Rose dragged along at the back of the group, Carlisle and Esme were joking about needing hoverrounds, they were so old and tired. Liz and Tony were leading the group. That left me kind of paired off with Edward. I tried to walk a few paces ahead of him, but he had much longer legs than I.

"Bella, about last night… I'd like to apologize," he said, quietly. I pretended not to hear him for a moment. "Bella, I know you heard me."

"That was really rude," I snapped. "I wasn't doing anything wrong."

"Spying on me at night isn't anything wrong?"

"Who says I was spying?" I asked. We reached the stairs to the station. What was he doing last night that he didn't want anybody knowing about? "You could learn something from your parents. You're a terrible host."


	6. Chapter 6

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

* * *

"I almost got it," Tony was saying. He was buying all our fares for the 'tube,' as Londoners called it.

"_Mind the gap_," the British Voice said over the intercom. Now, I knew where that sign came from that I had seen in countless dorm rooms. "_Beware of pickpockets. Stand clear of the closing doors._"

"Bella, what's going on is really quite private, and quite recent, too," Edward said in my ear. "That's why I came home for Christmas this year and didn't go on holiday with my mates." I found these British-sounding words odd out of his American accent.

I thought right this very second would be a good time to turn around and say, _Do I _look_like I care, Edward?_ And then walk away, but I had already told him he was a shitty host. I didn't want to be ungracious to all three of our hosts. "Well, I'm sorry about that, Edward, but I thought I was the only person awake in the whole house," I said. "I didn't even hear you. That's why I jumped when you came into the kitchen."

"Can I shout you lunch, then?" he said. "I didn't mean to treat you like that."

"Excuse me?" I cried.

"Can I buy your lunch for you?" he asked, running his hand up the back of his head, making his hair stand on end.

I didn't want to say yes just yet. I wanted to lord it over him for a while. To accept would mean all was forgiven. I wanted to figure out his personality a little more before I evened things out with him. I had the upperhand right now. "I'll think about it," I said as the train zipped into the station.

After Madame Tussauds, which was as delightfully tacky as everyone said it was, we went to lunch in a pub named the Wart and Barrell. What a weird name for a pub.

London didn't look anything like the London I imagined. It was clean, efficient (except for the underground, which was about like New York's) people didn't like to be bothered as much, you were never met with a smile, like in the States. I guess that's how they could tell goofy American tourists apart so easily. Madame Tussauds was filled with tourists and the lines took forever, ahem-- the q's-- took forever. The British called them q's instead of lines.

"I've got her bill," Edward said to the server.

"No, I'm on my own," I said. This was kind of fun, messing with him.

Before the server could give me the bill, Tony got it. The west coasters, Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett and I, were all feeling lethargic by now and wanted to go back to the house to take a nap. Edward volunteered to take us back by taxi. He hailed a black cab.

I got a good look at the Masen's house. It was old, brick, probably built during the Industrial revolution, although I was no architect. "Would you like something to help you sleep?" Edward asked. "Hattie can make anything- a hot toddy?"

"No, that's okay," I said.

"Warm milk?" Rose said, her eye brows arching.

"We can do that, too," Edward said.

"I'm going upstairs," I said. Rose was right behind me. In my room, I was about to take off my sweater and jeans when I realized my pajamas smelled like bad milk. Ugh. No way I was sleeping in those. I ran downstairs to give them to Hattie, the housekeeper. "Can you wash these for me? I got milk on them and…"

"Oh it was yew?" she asked. "A bit clumsy, aren't ye?"

I blushed. "I guess," I said. I ran upstairs, but thought twice- I got out my toiletries before I went to bed so they wouldn't be stuck in the bathroom when I woke up.

When I woke up, Rose wasn't in the bed with me and the sun was going down. I slipped out of the bed and got my jeans and sweater on over my t-shirt before brushing my teeth and hair and peeing. I was starving by now.

In the back in the family room, the TV was on mute while everyone was sitting in a circle, playing charades. Everyone had had a little bit to drink already. Carlisle pulled a strip of paper out of the hat and read it, and blushed. "Oh man," he muttered.

"Talking is cheating, Dad!" Emmett yelled.

Carlisle made the motion for 'a movie.' He held up one finger. "One word," Rosalie called out.

"Has two syllables," Emmett read out.

Carlisle hopped up on the coffee table and then tore his sweater off and began twirling it over his head, stripper-style, gyrating his hips. Alice and Emmett looked horrified, but everyone else burst out into hysterical laughter. He threw his sweater and Esme caught it.

"Dad, you're embarrassing us!" Alice cried.

"That has more than two syllables," Carlisle said.

"Honey, not in front of the kids," Esme said. This brought on a new round of laughter, but Emmett and Alice did not find it funny at all.

"_The Stripper_- no, _Showgirls_!" I yelled.

Carlisle pointed at me. "You got it."

"Whoever put that into the hat should be banned from the rest of the game," Emmett whined.

"It was funny!" I cried.

"Trust me, it was not," Carlisle said, putting his sweater back on. He was turning bright red, now.

"Who's turn is it?" Alice asked.

"I think Bella should go," Edward said. "She hasn't had a turn, yet."

"I bet you'd like for me to go," I said.

"I'll go if you two will quit griping," Tony said. He pulled something out of the hat. "Okay." He went to signal what it was, but dropped his arms to laugh, again. "I'm sorry, I just keep seeing Crazy Carlisle stripping on my living room coffee table."

We all starting giggling again until Hattie came into the room to call us to dinner.

"I'm never going to live that down," Carlisle muttered. "What was yours?"

"_Honky Tonk Badunk a Dunk_?" Tony asked slowly, mispronouncing it. "Never heard of it."

"You're not from the south, obviously," Emmett said.

In the dining room, a fresh ham was glazed and laid out with green peas, mashed potatoes, and a thin gravy. There was a bread basket, but it wasn't like the bread rolls we got back home.

"It looks good," Tony said to Hattie. "Thank you. Everybody, have a seat."

We all sat around the table. Tony said a quick grace and we began dinner. At one point, Jasper brought up how he thought International American Policy was failing, but nobody seemed too eager to expound on that subject. The focus came back to me.

"So, Bella, you're a Resident Assistant in the dorms at your University?" Tony asked.

"Yes, I am," I said. "I work in the freshman dorm."

"I'm sure that's interesting. Those kids are mostly on their own for the first time, eh?"

"Yes, they get pretty rowdy. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it," I said.

"You get paid, don't you?" Edward asked.

"Yes," I said. I was definitely the poorest person in this room. I didn't want that to be known, although if Edward, Liz and Tony weren't label whores, he could probably tell that by my lack of designer clothing. "I wouldn't put up with it if I wasn't getting paid."

"Wise move," Tony said.

"So what do you _do_ as an RA?" Edward asked. "We don't have them here."

"RAs have one room on each floor. They're sort of the peer counselor," I explained. "They settle roommate disputes, call the ambulance if somebody's gotten too drunk, they check the stairwells around 1am every night to make sure the building's secure, and they hold monthly programs for the residents- stuff like binge-drinking awareness, good study habits reviews, ethnic diversity programs, that kind of stuff. We encourage campus involvement, basically."

"How long have you been doing this?" Liz asked.

"This is my second year," I said. "I started as a sophomore."

"Our other friend who couldn't come to England with us, Angela, she's also an RA at the same dorm," Alice said. "She's got a Great-Aunt in a nursing home in Port Angeles, and her parents think she's going to die this year and they wanted Angela to be close by."

"Bitch'll out-live us all," Rose mumbled into her plate.

After dinner, we attempted to play charades again, but when it came my turn, I got _The Bride Wore Yellow_- movie. I showed them it was a movie, then I showed them the second word was one syllable. I mimicked a veil over my head and holding a bouquet, walking down the aisle to a bridal march. "Bride!" Rosalie shouted. She had no volume control when it came to charades. I held up four fingers, then pointing at my t-shirt. "THE BRIDE WORE YELLOW!" Rosalie and Alice shouted.

"You can't beat these girls," Carlisle complained.

"No, you were pretty funny, Carlisle," I said.

Alice and Rosalie went together. Two words. First word, one syllable- Rosalie suddenly smacked Alice on the butt, making her yelp. "_Smack That_!" I yelled.

"Got it!" Rosalie cried.

"See? There's no point in playing charades when there's more than two of them," Carlisle said.

"I've never heard that song before," Tony said.

"Let me get my iPod," Emmett said. "You don't know American music anymore, do you?"

He put his iPod on the iHome and started playing _Smack That_ by Akon while Jasper rapped along. Jasper is a surprisingly good rapper. "Awful," Tony said, his wrinkling. "How can you listen to this dominating chauvinist crap?"

"It's fun to dance to!" I cried.

"Like you can dance with out taking down half the bar with you," Alice cried.

"He doesn't know _Honky Tonk Badonkadonk_ either," Rosalie said, changing the iHome.

Tony listened for a moment. "Aw, man, what ever happened to _Stand by Your Man_ and _A Boy Named Sue_? Don't you kids listen to Johnny Cash?"

"Sure we do!" Emmett cried.

"I have a better idea- Edward, why don't you play some Christmas music?" Liz asked.

"Yeah!" Alice cried. "Show us how it's done!"

"I'm not warmed up," Edward said.

"Oh please," Liz said.

"I want to see what else was in the hat," Edward said. "_Iron Man_? Was that what Emmett was singing this morning?"

"He wasn't singing the right words," I said.

"I was too!" Emmett cried. "_I am Elmer Fudd, killin' all the bunnies and drinking their blood-"_

"Those aren't the lyrics, Emmett!" Carlisle and Jasper said together. They laughed.

"What are the lyrics, then?" Emmett snapped.

"_Has he lost his mind, can he see or is he blind?  
Can he walk at all, or if he moves will he fall_?" Carlisle quoted. "I know this stuff! I listened to Ozzy and Black Sabbath before you were born!"

"Liz and I still want to hear Edward play piano," Esme said.

"Christmas music is so overdone," Edward complained. "Oh, listen to this one-_Rhinestone Cowboy_. How could anybody have done this one?"

"Listen to your mother," Esme commanded. Liz nodding approvingly.

We trooped into the front parlour, where the baby grand piano was located, and we watched as Edward sat down and started playing scales.

"Quit being a woman and hurry up and play something!" Emmett barked. That was Jasper's favorite insult from the stands when Emmett was the quarterback at Forks High when he didn't hurry up and pass the ball. Emmett had had a lot to drink, too. He liked the British Ales.

"Alright, fine," Edward said. He started playing Handel's _Messiah_ from memory.

I sat in awe- how did he do that? I could hardly remember everything for a test, he could memorize an entire piece of music?

He played a few more complicated pieces, but used sheet music, this time. By this time, everyone was quiet.

"I think we've had enough fun tonight," Tony said. "I'm turning in for the night. Good night, everyone."

Esme slipped an arm around Carlisle's waist. "Good night," Carlisle said.

Everyone seemed to want to go to bed, now. I noticed Esme pinching Carlisle's butt on the way to the basement and Carlisle winked at her. I'd never tell Alice that- old people having sex was gross.

I went upstairs with Emmett, Alice, Jasper and Rosalie to the top floor. "I think these were servant's quarters once," Jasper said. "Normally, the servants had rooms outside the house or on the top floor, I think."

"Do you think they're haunted?" I asked.

"I don't believe in stuff like that," he scoffed.

We all fought over the bathroom for a few minutes, until Jasper suggested a schedule for the shower, smart man that he is. I offered to use the shower at night so it would be easier to divide up in the morning. Rose said that I should try using the sink behind the bar in the mornings to brush my teeth, she had pretty much taken over down there.

After I brushed my teeth, I changed into my pajamas in my room and climbed into bed. "So, what did you think of Eddie's mad piano skills?" Alice asked, scanning through her iPod.

"Not as shocking as your dad's striptease," Rose said.

"I will never live that down," Alice groaned. "So, what happened last night?"

"This whole blow up between Edward and me," I said.

"Oh, he turned into a giant turd on her," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "She went downstairs to make hot milk and he caught her and said she was snooping and acted like a giant ass hole."

"Oh my God, we're going to have a talk," Alice said, getting up.

"No, he apologized to me today," I said. "And offered to buy me lunch."

"She didn't take him up on it," Rose said.

"I bet he was masturbating and you broke his concentration," Alice said. We all giggled.

"But, I want to know about how you heard Emmett singing _Iron Man_ in the shower," Rose said.

"I was pounding on the door, trying to get my toothbrush," I said. "He answered it only wearing a hand towel."

"Oh, you're kidding!" she giggled. "What'd you do?"

"I pushed past him and kicked his ass out," I said. "_And_ grabbed the towel," I added.

"And left him naked in the hall?" Rose asked. "Good one!" She got up from the bed.

"Where are you going?" I cried.

"Emmett has his own room!" she cried, slipping out of the room. Well, she was wearing her super-short boxer shorts and a tank top, despite the chill in the room. "What do you think I'm doing?"

I was about to say _Well, Alice wouldn't leave me alone in here,_ but Alice was changing into a skimpy see-through red and green lace baby doll and matching thong embroidered with poinsettias over the nipples and at the base of the thong. She pulled on a short Kimono robe and put on a Santa hat. I would have laughed if I hadn't been apart from them in so long. "Sorry," she said. "I haven't seen my man since Thanksgiving and I was too exhausted last night for anything! See you in the morning!"

_Nice,_ I thought. Well, at least I had my room to myself. I pulled out the ear plugs from my flight, knowing they'd all be banging headboards in a few minutes.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

* * *

I woke up sometime in the middle of the night to the shower water turning on and Rose giggling in the bathroom. I glanced at the clock- it was almost 3:30 in the morning. God, what were they doing, having a sex marathon? I could hear Emmett's voice say something, but it wasn't distinct and Rose squealed again. My bed was right up next to the bathroom. Ugh. I had pulled the earplugs out in my sleep, too.

Since it was 3:30 here, it would be 7:30 in Forks. My cell phone hadn't gotten reception since I got to England. It wasn't set up for it. I had bought a card for international long distance to be used on a landline phone. I knew there was one by the couch in the hallway, but I didn't want to be interrupted by Rose and Emmett running through the hallway naked and wet. I went downstairs to the first floor where there was a portable phone I could take to the TV room.

As I got to the bottom of the staircase, I saw the doorway to the parlour was lit up. "…Tanya, I cannot believe a single word you utter any more," Edward was saying, quietly. God, could he think he was any more British than he already wasn't? I almost snorted when I heard that. He was sitting on the couch, his back to me, talking into his cell phone. I could hear anger and hurt in his voice.

I hurried into the kitchen to find the cordless phone, where I dialed Charlie's number. It rang a few times before Charlie answered.

"Hello?"

"Dad, it's me," I said, quietly.

"Bella? How's England?"

"Oh, I'm having a blast," I said. "I'm having a hard time getting over the jet-lag, though."

"Yeah, I know," he said. "I'm sorry you're not with me, but any excuse to travel is important. It's good to travel, to see the world."

"I know," I agreed, knowing that Charlie had never been past the Mississippi river in his whole life. "So, is everything going Okay?"

"Well, Angela's Great-Aunt died yesterday," he said. "They're having the visitation tomorrow at the funeral home in Port Angeles. The Funeral's going to be on Christmas Day."

"That's terrible," I said.

"I know- but, hey, she died in her sleep," Charlie said. "After all those years of Alzheimer's, she was ready to go…"

"Yeah," I said. "Have you seen Angela, lately?"

"Yes, I saw her and her mother today at Wal-Mart," he said.

"Were you picking up lunch?" Charlie loved the Chili dogs there, and his doctor said to watch his cholesterol. He was getting higher levels with age.

"Well… yeah."

"Dad, you know that's not good for you to eat fast food! What happened to all the Lean Cuisines we bought at Thanksgiving?"

"I still have a few left in the freezer."

"By a few, do you mean all?"

"No, I'm eating one right now!"

"I'm sure," I said. "Anyways, how's Angela taking it?"

"She's just fine."

"I think I'll give her a call."

"Don't use up all your minutes before New Year's."

"I won't," I said. "Take care. Merry Christmas."

"I love you, Bells," he said. "Merry Christmas to you, too."

I hung up the phone and called Angela's cell phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, Ang," I said.

"Oh, Bella, hi!" she cried.

"I heard about your Aunt."

"Yeah, well, Mom and Dad were right. I'm glad I was here, although I really wish I could see England with my girls," she said.

"Maybe next time," I sighed. "Well, Charlie's going to the funeral, he's sure about that."

"Good," she said. "Wait a second, it's like, three-thirty in the morning there!"

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep," I said. "Jet-lag."

"Oh," she said. "Well, I gotta go, somebody's at the door with… a bucket of KFC? Is that Jacob and Billy Black?"

"Oh dear lord," I giggled. "Don't eat their cooking! Bye!"

She giggled. "I won't! Bye!"

I hung up the phone and realized Edward was standing in the kitchen, watching me. "Spying on me?" I asked.

"Bella,come now-"

"I just wanted to use my calling card in private," I said. "There's not much sleeping going on on the third floor."

I heard some footsteps downstairs. Esme and Carlisle obviously weren't sleeping much, either. I'd never tell Alice that.

"I figured as much when I heard the mucking about and the hot water tank go into action," Edward said. "Can I make you something to eat? Perhaps some mulled wine Hattie made some this afternoon."

"You are a complete Anglophile, aren't you?"

"I guess you could say that," he said. "There's something about the British Isles I love." I curled up on the couch. "I'm going to heat up the mulled wine, are you sure you don't want any?"

"Alright," I said. "I'll have some."

He went into the kitchen and began shuffling around some pots and pans. He returned with two mugs of warmed wine. "Here," he said. I sipped it. "So, what's going on in Forks?"

"Angela, our other best friend, stayed behind because they thought her great-aunt would die, and she did," I said. "They're planning her funeral for Christmas Day."

"That's too bad," he said, sitting down at the end of the couch. He was looking at my purple toes. "Would you like a blanket? There's one in the coffee table."

"_In_ the coffee table?"

"Yes," he said, taking the magazines and coasters off. "The top lifts up and the inside stores blankets andcushions." He lifted the top of the coffee table and revealed several soft chenille blankets and pillows. He put a pillow over my bare feet and draped a blanket over me.

"Thanks," I said. There was a _thunk_ from underneath us.

"I don't think there's much sleeping going on at all in this house," he said.

I decided to go back to a less intrusive subject. "So, what kind of doctor are you going to be?"

"Probably something to do with pediatric surgery," he said. "I'm leaning towards cardiology. I got my undergraduate degree in biology up in Edinborough before I applied to medical school."

I nodded.

"So, what are you studying?"

"Oh that- I'm studying Literature," I said. "I'd like to be a teacher at the college level."

"I guess the RA job is training on the job, I suppose?"

"College teachers don't baby-sit their students," I said, taking a gulp of my wine.

"I suppose," he said. "We're not going anywhere tomorrow… is there anything you'd like to do on Boxing Day?"

"The twenty-sixth?" I asked. "Well… I'm sure there's tons of stuff to do."

"I've never done this, but I think it would be fun, as a tourist… the London Eye," he said. "If the weather's clear."

"What is it?"

"It's like a giant Ferris wheel, but instead of little compartments, it has glass capsules you can walk around in it- several people can go in one at a time. It takes about thirty minutes togo round it once. You can get a tour to show you the sites from above- you can even see Windsor Castle if the weather's good enough," he said. "And then Kenwood House- that's very nice, they serve mulled wine on the heath next to it in the winter, we'll have to check the website to see when it's open over the next couple of days the city centre will be shutting down for Christmas and gearing up for the sales at Harrod's and Harvey Nic's Department stores."

"That's more Alice's cup of tea," I said. "I'm not a real big shopper. I'm making my own way through college."

"I twigged as much."

I paused. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Bella," he said in a patronizing tone, showing no remorse. "I didn't mean anything negative by it. It's just, if you knew Alice and Emmett as kids- they were so ruddy spoiled- I'm glad you're their friend- you're a decent girl who's realistic and gives them an idea of what it's like to have to actually work for things. You're a good influence on them-"

"I'm not going to have you talking about them like that!" I cried. "Alice is a great girl- maybe she gets a little twitchy when her credit card hasn't been swiped a day or two, but she never lends money and expects it back! And Emmett-"

"And Emmett was a bloody bully when he was a kid because he was bigger and stronger than everyone else," Edward replied.

"He is not!" I cried. "He was like a big brother to me when I moved to Forks! He won Best Sense of Humor in the class superlatives!"

"Have you ever thought that Carlisle moved them to Forks to bring them back to reality?"

"I think that you're just mad because you were a geek and they picked on you when you were younger," I snapped.

He wasn't phased by me calling him a geek- didn't even blink. "He took them to that tiny town because he and Esme saw them becoming spoiled, selfish, rotten kids like all the other well-to-do children in Lake Forrest- trust me, I lived there until I was sixteen. Forks is a tiny logging town on the edge of economic collapse- why else would he take a job there when he could have gone to any hospital in the world and made ten times as much money?"

I didn't know what to say- I was fumbling I was so angry. He was putting down my father, the town I was born in full of people I loved. "Mold and spore collection!" I sputtered and ran upstairs.

The water was off and the door to the bathroom was ajar. There were a pair of wet footprints on the floor leading from the bathroom to Emmett's room. I walked into my still empty room and was tempted to slam the door, but I didn't want to wake people up. For a moment, I thought Edward would redeem himself. But, he never came into my room to apologize. He was just like James.

God, James.

I met him while I was working the summer round at the Frosh Dorm. There were cheerleader, volleyball and church camps going on and giggling girls shuffled in and out of my dorm. I was there just to lay down the ground rules and work the front desk while the chaperones and coaches handled everything else. It enabled me to go to summer school and get ahead. James was there as a life guard at the pool. The staff loved taking their kids to the pool on summer days- it was clean, it was good fun, they knew their kids were watched out for- furthermore, it was free. I went there to try to get a tan for once, while studying, which ended in disaster, despite the SPF I was wearing.

It got too hot, so I went off the diving board for a quick dip to cool off, and lucky me, my top popped off in the water. Nothing like being topless in public with a pool full of horny teenage boys. They lined up at the side of the pool to get a glimpse of a college girl with boobs, like in _Girls Gone Wild_, I guess. My top was nowhere to be found- and I spun in circles trying to find it while being gawked at. It was like that nightmare I had when I was feeling nervous- I was unprepared and then I looked down and I was naked. Only, it was really happening. James dived off the lifeguard stand to retrieve it for me- that's how we met.

Angela met me at the pool's edge and we high-tailed it out of there. At first, I thought I was blushing, but then, when I had showered and the embarrassment wore off, I realized I had the worst sunburn ever. I swore I'd never return to the pool ever again.

The next day, I was working the front desk with my sunburn showing, and James came in with a couple of kids who were staying for a church camp who couldn't remember their way back to the dorm. He recognized me, and struck up a conversation, Luckily, he couldn't see my blush under my sunburn. He never mentioned my top in the pool or having to rescue it for me. He told me it might be in my best interest to stay out of the sun altogether, though, seeing my burn.

After my skin peeled and I went back to my regular pale color, he called the front desk and asked for me. I gave in and talked to him and after a few conversations, I let him talk me into a date. We went to a bar on 'the Strip-' Baldwin Avenue, right off of campus, where around 70 restaurants and bars setup shop. We had a few beers and a few games of darts- which I sucked horribly at- and before the night was up, I sneaked him into my room. We had drunken sex, and he left early the next morning. That's how our relationship started.

He was a mystery to me. He didn't tell me everything.

He lived off campus in an apartment with three other boys. They were enormous slobs- and I preferred taking him back to my room to have sex, although it was smaller and less comfortable, it was more private.

He preferred having me bent over, standing up, my hands pressed against the wall. He had all kind of quirks about sex- like he had to shower, alone, after the act, I couldn't join him. He never wanted to look into my eyes when he came, either. When I was performing a blow job on him, I kept on looking up at him to see if he was getting off, but he always looked annoyed when his eyes met mine. I remembered one time, while we were in the missionary position, I was begging him to come, he had been going so long, and he suddenly grabbed a pillow and covered my face and started coming so hard inside me, it hurt. He didn't suffocate me, but it was embarrassing. That's when I figured that out.

Whenever I had to leave him alone in my room, if a resident was having a crisis, I'd always come back to him being on my computer. He claimed he was checking his email, but later, I when I did a cache search, he had been looking at porn sites of women being sodomized willingly and enjoying it. It was disgusting and I found it disturbing, but I figured, guys usually get off to some jacked up shit, it doesn't mean they'll want to do it with me. He asked me to occasionally, I always refused. My computer crashed a few days later from all the spy ware and viruses, devastating me. Ben was the brave soul who helped me replace my hard drive. I wasn't sure what to think by then- he made all the appropriate "Aw, I'm sorry babe" comments when that happened, and offered to help out with fixing the computer, but he had no idea I had figured out his sick obsession, yet.

It was when he brought a guy over on Fall Break and asked me to have sex with him WHILE he watched, that I positively lost it. I broke down and kicked his friend out. I had never met this friend of his before in my life- why would I ever participate in such an act? It was sick! That's when I realized what deep, sexual issues I hadn't seen before- he was a complete pervert that needed help. When I called him that, he just laughed and "You're a complete innocent, Isabella." It made me feel sexually inadequate, as if even though I had been sexually active for several years, I either hadn't been doing it with the right men before him or there was something wrong with me- my body, my vagina, who I was as a person- I don't know. I began to believe that I didn't really know the first thing about sex, like I had been doing it wrong the whole time.

He walked out of the door, and that was it for us. He never called, never emailed, nothing. After five days, I realized we were over. Completely.

I had become so insecure since then. I used to feel so secure with my sex life before him. He shattered my self-confidence. I felt like a joke, now. I was afraid to ask my friends these questions. Sure, we talked about sex, but it was all vaginal and oral sex. Angela didn't know anything, but she listened, eagerly- she was waiting until marriage, but Rose and Alice weren't. How do you call up your friends and ask them a question like that? I'm still afraid I'd offend them if I asked a question like that.

I thought I could function, but suddenly, Edward was reminding me of how I fell short and how I was a poor judge of character, how I was a complete innocent. I wanted to believe that Edward thought more of himself that he really was and was still a geek, deep down- a good looking, but still a geek. And the more and more I was around him, the less and less I knew about him. There was mystery about him. I couldn't know everything about him just by looking at him as badly as I wanted to be able to look at him and just know. And that made me horribly uncomfortable about Edward.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

**_I included the Mummerings because I am a theatre hag, as always. There's a great reason why Edward lives in SoHo in London. I'll explain later, it's part of the story, which I hope you will all enjoy._**

* * *

Christmas Eve Day was just as Edward said- all the good attractions shut down. When I woke up, Esme and Liz wanted to go for a walk to the local "commons" (their word for "park") and back to see all the Christmas decorations. There weren't any parades scheduled, although I missed that a little bit. Renée and I used to watch the Thanksgiving and Christmas Parades together, although she was usually burning the turkey during this time.

Hattie wouldn't let anybody in the kitchen- she had defrosted the goose overnight and was cooking it today. She was leaving early to go home to her family that was gathering in South London. I was beginning to understand the geography of London- we were Islington, in North London, which was really quite rich, but open to new comers. Liz explained that Edward had bought a flat in SoHo last summer before Medical School started, near his school and usually stayed there, but she had asked him to come home while his aunt and uncle were here, since he hadn't seen them in over seven years.

When we got back, Hattie had finished most of the cooking and was leaving. "Now, we can start our Christmas Eve," Liz said, getting out a cookbook from the cabinets. "One thing I used to do with Edward when he was little was made gingerbread men that looked like us. I think we should do that this year." She flipped through the cookbook.

"Oh, I remember that!" Esme said. "We should do that for everybody in the house, today."

"That'd be fun," Rosalie said.

"I'm not that good at baking," I said.

"Oh, I'll watch what you do, Bella," Liz said. "The only problem is, everything is metric here, so I have a hard time using the recipes from home."

"I'll design them!" Alice cried, getting out a scrap of paper and a pen.

Liz assembled most of the ingredients and we started reading over the ingredients. Alice was still designing the gingerbread family and was now working on a matching gingerbread house and a gingerbread minivan. "Give her an inch, she goes a mile," I said.

"That's our Alice," Liz said, getting out the countertop mixer and rolling pin.

The ingredients were quick and easy to assemble, and then we took turns with the cookie cutter. We put extra muscles on Emmett's. Alice started making the icing and was coloring it.

"Hey, I need grey!" Alice said.

"There's no such thing as grey food coloring, is there?" I asked.

"Just use a little bit of the black, but not too much," Esme said. "Why do you need grey?"

"For Emmett's sweatshirt," she said, mixing it up with a spoon.

We started decorating to Alice's designs and red-hots. I got Edward's design and I looked at it for a moment and concealed laughter. Alice had dawn, 'My Dad is The World's Greatest Dr!' on his shirt, glasses, a retainer and wild red hair. Rosalie snatched it from me and started giggling, too. Esme looked over her shoulder. "You can't do that!" she cried when Liz was out of the room. We started laughing even harder. Esme stole it from me and crumpled it up. "Alice, design another one."

"You didn't like Edward's gingerbread man?" Alice asked, grinning.

"No!"

"We'll just change the shirt to say, 'Geekward,'" Alice replied. We laughed even harder.

"You will make him look like a doctor or so help me-"

"What's going on?" Liz asked, innocently.

"Inside jokes," Esme said, trying to brush it off.

"How do I make Edward's look like a doctor?" Alice asked.

"Just give him red hair," Esme said.

"And a mold and spore collection," I muttered.

"I'm sorry?" Liz asked. Alice and Rosalie cracked up.

"Nothing," I said.

We set out the gingerbread family and the gingerbread men, and Alice was complaining because we didn't make a house and car, too.

"This is what you slaved over all morning long?" Jasper asked. He went to pick up Esme's cookie, but we stopped him.

"Don't eat that!" Rose cried.

"Eat the generic ones! That one's not yours, anyways, it's Mom's!" Alice cried.

"I almost ate your mom," Jasper said.

"Eww!" we chorused.

After everyone returned to the family room, I stayed behind with Rose and Alice. Alice got out the camera as I picked up the different cookies. "'Hi, my name's Rose,' 'I'm Emmett,'" I said, dancing the cookies across the table. "'And we have to shower together in the middle of the night.'" Alice cackled.

"You heard that?" Rose asked.

"Yes," I said, putting down the cookies. I picked up Carlisle and Esme's cookies. "'Hi, I'm Dr. Carlisle.' 'Hi, I'm Esme,'" I said. "'We had it going on like Donkey Kong last night.'"

"I don't want to hear that!" Alice cried.

"'We didn't know that Bella was calling home last night on the first floor," I said. "And we were making noise!'"

"Bella!"

Rose picked up my cookie. "'Hi, my name's Bella Swan, that means _Beautiful Swan_,'" she said. "'I'm a nosy bitch because I was listening to my surrogate parents do it.'"

"I was not!" I cried. "I was calling Ang!"

"Sure you were!" Rose said. She picked up Edward's cookie. "'I'm the sexy, intelligent, talented wanna-be-Brit Edward Masen. And I secretly wanna fuck Bella! Because I'm so sexually repressed!'"

"Good job, now we can't ever show this to anybody!" Alice cried.

Rose continued. "'Oh, Bella, don't you think I'm beautiful, too?' 'Um, no Edward, I think you're too conceited. And a wanker!'" Rose said. Alice and I started cracking up. "'I'm a nice girl that secretly snoops around my host's houses at night! No, I can't do you!' 'Yes, you can, Bella- see, I have a trust fund!' 'Okay, just one kiss, Wankward and that's it.'" She pressed our cookies together. "'Ew, Edward, no tongue! Ugh! What will I tell my residents?'" She danced my cookie away from his. We were laughing so hard by now. '"What about my mold and spore collection? Isn't _that_ sexy?'"

"Do me and Jasper, now!" Alice cried.

I picked up Jasper and Rose picked up Alice's. "'Gah, life is so difficult. Faulker was a genius due to his depression,'" I said.

"'Hey, Jazz, wanna go shopping?'"

"What are you guys doing?" Carlisle asked.

"It's gingerbread puppet theatre," I said.

"You're going to get in trouble doing stuff like that," Carlisle said.

"Oh come on, we're equal opportunity offenders," I said.

"Okay, good enough, we thought we'd finish decorating the lounge," Carlisle said, waving us away from the cookies.

In the lounge, Liz was sorting stockings. "I had all these made," she said. "I wanted each of you to hang your own."

"Thank you!" I cried when she held up the one with my name on it. I went over to the mantle and hung it up on the fireplace.

Once the stockings were hung, we went to the mummerings- an old medieval Christmas play tradition in England. It was on one of the commons. They had actors in masks depicting the Christmas story. We had mulled wine (again- I asked if they had egg nog here, and they said "huh?") and watched from a distance. I figured out that mulled wine had cinnamon, brandy, lemons and cloves and some other stuff. After the play, Liz kept on running into friends of hers- mostly other doctor's wives she knew from the hospital. I was freezing by the time we got back to the house.

Dinner was ready by now- the table had been set by the butler, who had vacated for the night. We sat down for Christmas Eve dinner, which was delicious.

After dinner, Tony insisted on everybody opening up one gift. "Just one, mind you- the rest are for tomorrow," he said.

"Okay, okay," Emmett said.

"Emmett, can you and Jasper help me pass out the gifts?" Tony asked.

Emmett handed me a present and winked at me. He got out Esme's present, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek, and then he handed Rose a giant box.

"How am I going to get this home?" Rose complained.

"You'll find a way," Tony said.

I noticed Jasper gave Alice a tiny present. I suddenly realized something was up.

Rose opened the first box, and found tons of newspapers in it. Looking confused, she pulled out crumpled newspaper after newspaper, making a mess.

"Oh my God!" Alice cried, suddenly. She stood up. She had a ringbox… a oval-shaped diamond ring? I looked down at my sweater. Either something was up or I got the shaft because I'm not somebody's favorite niece.

"Alice, we've known each other for over five years now, and I've never been more sure of this than anything," Jasper said. He was unearthly pale. "I want you to be my wife."

I saw Carlisle's grimace, and Esme's wide eyes, but I looked back at Alice, who was bouncing up and down. "Yes, of course!" she cried. "I want to be your wife! I'll marry you!"

She held out her hand for him to put the ring on her and Jasper breathed a sigh of relief. He hugged her so hard he lifted her off the floor.

Rosalie was standing in a small mountain of wrapping paper and newspaper, unwrapping an even tinier box, looking exasperated. "How many boxes are inside this thing?"

"That's the last one," Emmett promised.

Emmett? Oh no…

Rosalie opened up a pear-shaped diamond ring and cried out. "Oh, Emmett, it's beautiful!" she cried. I actually saw tears in Rosalie's eyes. "Does this mean?..."

"Yeah, it does," Emmett admitted, bashfully. He got down on one knee and did it properly. "Rose, would you marry me?"

"Yes," she said, wiping her eyes with her French-tipped acrylic nails. He slipped the ring on her finger. Alice and Jasper were doing a victory lap in the backyard.

"Both my kids in one night," Carlisle said. "Thank God I only have to pay for one."

"Yeah Dad, and it's Alice's," Emmett said. Everyone laughed.

Alice and Jasper came back inside. "I'm getting married!" Alice shrieked.

"So am I," Rose said. She held up her hand.

"Oh, Rose!" Alice cried. She ran up and hugged both of them. "Rose, will you be my maid of honor? It just fits- we got engaged on the same night!"

"Oh yes, of course!" she cried, hugging Alice.

"I've got so many ideas for my wedding," Alice said, excitedly.

"And I have to pay for it," Carlisle said.

"Imagine how my dad's going to feel," Jasper said. Esme laughed.

"Did you plan this?" Edward asked.

"Yes, I called Emmett and told him I was planning on proposing to Alice on Christmas Eve in London," Jasper said. "And Emmett said to me that he wanted to do the same thing for Rose. So, we emailed Tony and asked him for some help with getting this to work out."


	9. Chapter 9

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

* * *

"We have to get ready for midnight mass," Tony said. "It's almost time to leave."

I went upstairs and changed into a church-type dress. Alice and Rosalie came into the room, chattering away about wedding things. "Can you believe they pulled this off?" Alice said.

"No, I really can't," I said.

"Am I going to have to wear off-white because I'm not a virgin?" Alice asked, admiring her ring. "Because I don't think I really want like, white white white white. Maybe eggshell. What about the bridesmaid dresses?"

"It really depends on your bridesmaids," Rosalie said. "If you want to make them look good or bad next to you."

"Y'know, I really like the idea of a pink wedding," Alice said. "Do you think Jasper would wear a pink vest and tie?"

"No," Rosalie said. "How soon do you want to get married?"

"Gosh, I don't know," Alice sighed. "He's gotta finish his master's degree, do you think he'd want to come to New York for that? And… I've gotta finish mine… That's going to be at least another year and half for me. What about you and Emmett?"

"Oh, we've talked about it, actually," Rosalie said. "This wasn't too much of a surprise, we just thought about it before."

"Really?"

"No, really," Rose said. "We talked about getting engaged, and then we went ring shopping together."

This was news to me. "Wow, really?" Alice asked. "This was a total surprise!"

"We're thinking sometime next summer," Rosalie said.

"Oh!" Alice cried. "It's such a short amount of time to plan your wedding!"

"We'll get a wedding planner," Rose said.

I wondered if Alice and Rose were going to talk the whole night about their upcoming weddings as if I wasn't in the room.

We took separate taxis to the Anglican Church. I took the one with Edward, Liz and Tony. It was a nice break from all the wedding talk. I wondered what was bothering me so much.

It was on the way to midnight mass, that I realized that it was that neither Rose nor Alice had asked me to be a part of their bridal party, yet. I loved both of them so much- and we had all known each other the same amount of time. And Alice and Rose were going on and on about being each other's maids-of-honor. That's probably what they were talking about in their taxi right now.

"I guess Alice and Rose have their whole weddings to plan," Edward said. I shifted uncomfortably beside him.

"I guess," I said, looking out the window.

We finally arrived at the church, which was quickly filling up. I thought this was the one place Alice and Rose couldn't talk about their weddings. I thought wrong. They were whispering and giggling the whole time.

Edward got into the pew beside me, wedging himself between me and Jasper, who was sitting between me and Alice. It made me feel a little better.

I didn't go to church too often. It made me uncomfortable most of the time because I didn't live the saintliest of lives, personally. And right now, I was resenting my best friends for forgetting about me. Renée had gone on a Christianity kick when I was a kid for a couple of months. She met this preacher-type and dragged me along. I'm surprised we didn't get taken to a compound and raped, but Renée lost interest and we stopped going.

I said a quiet prayer to God (if He's actually there) that He'd get Rose and Alice to stop talking about weddings and Edward would simply get lost. Yeah, that'd happen.

We waited forever before the choir actually came in and started singing. That was bearable, but after an hour, it got old. The minister finally came in with a bunch of altar boys and the mass finally started. We had been there for two hours already.

After church, it was almost one-thirty am, and we were all ready to crash, but the people exiting bottlenecked the exit, and then, they had to start talking to each other, holding it up even more. This was why I wasn't good with church.

"Do you like church at all?" Edward asked. Rose and Alice were discussing wedding plans again.

"To be honest with you, I don't," I said, quietly.

"I know," he replied in a low voice. "Me neither."

"Mom!" Alice cried. "I had the best idea for my wedding just now!"

"Me too! Can we talk about in the cab on the way home?" Rose asked.

"Sure!" Esme said.

Tony, Jasper, Carlisle and Emmett loaded into one taxi together. I wasn't too fond of getting into a cab with 'the wedding planners' just this moment.

"Let's share a cab home," Edward said.

We loaded into a cab and went north to Islington.

"So, aren't you chuffed for your friends?" he asked.

I guessed 'chuffed' meant 'happy.' "Sure I am," I said, shrugging.

"You don't seem like it," he said.

"I'm just tired," I said. I hadn't had a nap this afternoon and my circadian clock was probably scheduled to wake up in two hours.

"I can't wait for those girls to shut it about their weddings," Edward said.

I smiled. "I guess we just need to give them a chance to be excited," I said.

"You have to sleep in the same room as them." He chuckled.

"They didn't sleep in my room last night."

"Tonight's going to be a repeat," he said, shrugging.

"I know. How can it not be?"

"I heard what you said over the gingerbread cookies."

"You did?" I asked, feeling sick.

"I suppose I look like a giant wanker to you," he said.

"Well, yeah," I said, not really understanding the gravity of the word.

"You're a big wanker, too. Who told you about my mold and spore collection?"

"Emmett," I said. "Do you still have it?"

"No, I had to dispose of it when I came to England. I got an A in science that year, though." I realized he found it funny.

"How did you stop being a dork?"

"I don't know… I just outgrew it… Why, am I the opposite of a dork, now?"

"I've only known you three days."

We pulled up to the house. "I got it," he said, getting out his wallet. "Thank you," he said to the driver. I climbed out of the car. The girls were already home and they were talking in the foyer.

"Bella!" Esme cried. "You're back!"

"I'm so tired, I think I'm going to go to bed, now," I said.

"Yeah, me too," Esme said. "It's been a long day."

"Good night," I said.

Alice and Rosalie came upstairs with me. I started changing into my pajamas.

"I'd like to have a destination wedding," Rosalie was saying as she changed into a t-shirt. "I'm thinking we can get married here in London."

"Oh that's a great idea!" Alice said. "That way you can only invite the people you actually like! And we can find the church now! I bet Liz would love to be the liaison for the wedding!"

With that, Alice and Rosalie left the room without saying good-night to me. I sighed and put on my eye shade and earplugs.

* * *

I woke up a few times in the night, but I got back to sleep quickly without long periods of insomnia. In the morning, I put on my socks and went downstairs to see if anybody else was awake. Liz and Esme were working on breakfast and the guys had started on the small array of presents. I went to the kitchen to help with the food.

"Breakfast will be ready in a minutes," Liz explained. "I'm trying to do something a little more American." She was chopping up potatoes for hash browns.

Alice and Rosalie came downstairs, the wedding talk kept on going. Ugh.

"Bella, did I tell you I wanted to do a destination wedding to London?" Rosalie asked.

"Yeah, you did," I said.

"Alice, please, have your wedding in Washington State," Esme begged. Liz laughed. They degenerated into wedding talk. I had told myself I would give them a chance to be happy about it, but it was getting old.

"I will," Alice said, happily. "I'm still high from last night!"

"I know," Esme said, smiling.

After a breakfast about London weddings, we went to the den and started opening the presents and going through our stockings. In my stocking, I got an orange, a pair of English wool socks (they were _very_ nice), some chocolate coins, some candies in a plastic bag, and some CDs, probably picked out by Edward. I figured the orange, the coins, candy and the socks were traditional British Christmas presents. I got a few more presents- small stuff I could bring home. We had exchanged most of our presents before we left the States since it was so difficult to not have to pay extra to check extra suitcases. I got a pashmina from Carlisle and Esme, _Eat, Pray Love_ from Alice and Jasper (which was a book I had wanted to read for a while), an open-hearts collection from Kay Jewelers necklace from Emmett and Rosalie. The Masens gave me a new collection of Charles Dicken's works in Hardback. I had gotten my presents from my parents and bigger presents from my friends while at PSU before I left for the break, too.

After we opened all the presents, Tony turned on the television and turned to _A Christmas Carol_. "Most British families watch this on Christmas day," he explained.

Edward got out the pillows and blankets from the coffee table and we all curled up with mulled wine, watching the flatscreen. This was as close to my fantasy on the plane as I could get. Edward sat beside me and put a pillow on my feet to keep them warm. We shared a smile. Liz and Esme jumped up a few times to work on the goose. There were no greetings from Military stationed overseas to say hello to their loved ones.

"_Godbless us everyone_!"

And it was over. I sighed. "I love that story," I said. "They do an adaptation of it every year in America."

"Yeah, it's pretty lame," Edward agreed.

"You know what? I think I want a wedding around Christmastime," Alice said. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Edward and I shared another smile. He wasn't so bad, after all.

Liz turned to Eastenders and we watched as terrible things happened to the main characters. We all laughed. "They always do this at Christmas," Liz explained. After that, we watched _Top of the Pops Christmas Special_, which was like American Bandstand and Dr. Who. Jasper has always been a Dr. Who fan since I've known him and Edward got a little irritated when I tried to talk to him during the show. I bet he was a Dr. Who fan, too.

After that, I went into the kitchen to help out with the last-minute Christmas dinner preparations, which was mostly peas, green beans, stuffing, brussel sprouts, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, carrots and chipolata sausages and bacon. Alice and Rosalie went on to set the table and talk about wedding stuff.

By the time we got to sit down to dinner, I was starving.

There were Christmas crackers laid out and candles lit. "Hey, watch this," Emmett said, pulling on the ends. It exploded with a loud crack that made me jump and confetti and streamers flew everywhere with little bits of candies. There was a short, child-friendly joke in them that we all groaned at. While we were eating dinner, we pulled all the crackers apart and they made us all jump and laugh a little. Tony explained that all the good football matches were on Boxing Day and Emmett got excited about that and started making plans.

"Tottenham Hotspurs are playing Fullham," Tony said. "A London Derby."

"Big rivalry?" Emmett asked.

"No, not majorly," Tony said.

After dinner, we listened to the Queen's Christmas address, which I personally found quite boring. It was like a bad Christmas letter that people wrote to all their friends that was really impersonal.

"I think we should tour churches tomorrow while the guys are watching the games," Alice said. "I'd love it if it snowed at my Christmas wedding!"

I wondered if Alice would ever stop talking about her wedding.

As I took my presents upstairs, Edward fell instep with me up the staircase. "Sorry, I'm not much for going out on Boxing Day," he said. "But, after that- would you like to see what London night life is like?"

I thought I'd never see that on this family vacation. "Sure!" I cried.

"There's lots of night clubs in SoHo. Most of my friends work in the restaurants and night clubs," he said. "It's good work where you can get it. If you have to have a job."

"So, I guess you're in luck then?" I asked.

"Well, I go to some of the clubs to help them out, sometimes," he said. "I think you'd like London night clubs."

"We've got night clubs in Spokane and Seattle," I said, thinking about the Christmas pub crawl with the Frosh Dorm Staff.

"Not like here, you don't."


	10. Chapter 10

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

**_Mad Donna's is not a real night club. I decided to make up one._**

* * *

I spent Boxing Day following Alice, Esme, Rosalie and Liz around all the churches in London. At least I got to see those. Rose had so many churches she liked, but the waiting list was ridiculous in a few of them.

The next day, Edward explained that he was going to work and slipped out the door.

"Where does he work?" I asked Liz as we stepped out the door.

"Great Ormond Street Hospital," Liz explained. "It's a charity hospital for children. He's doing an internship there- it's a very prestigious one- and a very difficult one to get. Everyone wants to intern at that hospital in Medical school, especially if they're going into pediatrics. His father's name didn't mean anything."

My heart melted. Maybe Edward wasn't such a prick after all.

Being the big dork that he was, Jasper wanted to go to King's Cross Station to see Station 9 and 3/4 from Harry Potter. We had had our adventure riding the underground, so I wasn't too keen on riding it again. I had seen the rats scurrying along the lines. Ew. We had to go into Central London for that, but it was along the way. We decided to go on the London Eye, too- we had already bought our tickets online.

"Jasper and I have been talking," Alice said. "We've decided we're going to wait until I've graduated from design school."

"I'm going to see if I can get into some graduate schools in New York so Alice can work there, too," Jasper said.

I wondered if they'd ever figure out that I was sick of hearing about their weddings. I was beginning to feel forgotten, but I didn't want to be a pain in the ass. Carlisle and Esme had been very generous with me- taking me on this trip, upgrading my ticket to first class on the way over. I didn't want to be ungrateful.

It was a clear day- and on the London Eye, we could see for miles, all the way to Windsor Palace. I wished Edward was there to entertain me while everyone else was talking about the weddings that were going to happen.

We had lunch at a pub. I was beginning to like these pubs. There were some interesting characters. After that, we went down to the Parks where the markets were open- it was like a flea market- lots of good, vintage stuff for sale. We didn't stay long- Jasper really wanted to go to King's Cross and see the Harry Potter site.

While we were down there, I noticed a memorial for tube fire about twenty years ago. We found their made up Platform 9 and 3/4 and took pictures of ourselves under it like giant dorks.

We went out for dinner and had a few drinks. I liked this side of England a lot.

After dinner, we went back to Islington to see Edward was home. We watched some TV until Tony, Liz, Esme and Carlisle went to bed. I ran upstairs to get dressed in a short skirt and leggings and a red off-the-shoulder sweater. Any of these articles of clothing would have been fine by themselves, but altogether, I looked pretty whorish. I put on extra eye make up and put on some red lipstick. As I came downstairs, I carried my shoes.

"Where are you going!" Alice cried.

"Edward and I are going to a nightclub," I said.

"I wanna go!" Alice cried.

"Me too," Rose said.

"If you're all going, we have to go," Emmett said. "I can't let my fiancée wander around London in the dark!"

"I'll protect her," Edward said. "Come on, we'll take Dad's car instead of going on the underground."

Rose and Alice changed into dresses and came downstairs. While I put on my shoes and coat.

We piled into Tony's car.

"So, what's this club you're taking us to?" Jasper asked.

"Mad Donna's," Edward said. "My mates are going to get us in."

We got out of the car and saw Mad Donna's was a huge night club with an abstract woman in neon who's head was onfire. "Was it supposed to be 'Madonna's'?"

"Yeah, but Madonna had some issues with copyrights," Edward said.

The people lined up outside looked like they were dressed up for a costume party or something. I was dressed all wrong. There were fairies and men in make-up and drag queens-

"Wait a second!" Emmett cried as we went up the front steps, his face twisting in horror. "Edward, is this a _gay bar_?"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Edward asked, grinning. He found this funny.

"Are you trying to tell us something? Is there a reason why you don't have a girlfriend?" Emmett asked.

"No, I'm straight," Edward said. "I'm just not narrow-minded."

"I'm not going in!" Emmett snapped, crossing his arms.

Jasper looked torn- it looked fun, but he didn't want to go in because of the stigma. Alice was visibly upset, as if she was saying, _I wanna go in!_

"Emmett, don't be a homophobe, just because it's a gay night club doesn't mean you're gay as long as I go inside with you," Rose said. "I'll stick close to you and beat off any pansy that tries to grab your ass."

"It's not Sodom and Gomorrah or anything," Edward said.

"I'm going in," I said. Edward took my hand and we went up the steps. Alice and Jasper were right behind us. Rose started to drag Emmett up.

"Eddie!" a frightening giant, black six-foot-something drag queen that was bouncer at the door said, seeing Edward. "You brought friends! Who's this?"

"This is a friend of my family's from the States, Bella," he said.

"That' means Beautiful, doesn't it?" the drag queen asked.

"And this is my cousin Alice and her fiancé, and my other cousin Emmett, and his fiancée," Edward said.

"Are you going to play piano for us tonight during the show?" she/he asked. I wasn't sure what gender to call this queen.

"One song, that's it. I've got guests to entertain," he said.

"Oh, how can you do me like that when you know you're my favorite!"

"I know, I know. After they leave I'm all yours," he said.

"Go on in." She patted his butt as we passed. Edward just laughed.

Most night clubs in Spokane and Seattle were nothing like what you saw on TV and in the movies. I had long since stopped wishing it was. But as I walked into Mad Donna's, I discovered it actually was even cooler than on film.

There were flashing, motorized lights timed to the music over the dance floor, people dancing with glow sticks like a rave, black lights, optical illusions, even trapeze artists overhead doing an acrobatic routine over the dance floor. I tripped as Edward led me down the steps, but he caught me. "Pretty cool, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah!" I cried. "I've never seen anything like this!" I cried.

"I told you," he said.

Another frightening drag queen rang up to Edward, gushing, hugging and kissing him and welcoming him. "Come now, you and your friends sit down at the best seat in the house- as long as you play the piano for us!" she said. We followed her to a giant circular booth that had koi fish swimming around in the table, illuminated by LED lights that looked over the whole club. It really was the best seat in the house.

"First round is on the house. Anything for Edward," the drag queen told us.

"A beer. The manliest beer you've got," Emmett stated. The queen laughed at him, but Emmett didn't laugh back.

"And for you?"

"A Cosmopolitan," Rosalie said.

"Same here!" Alice said.

"I'm just going to go with a beer, too," Jasper said.

"Um… a Frangelico on the rocks," I said, trying to be different.

"If you order a white wine spritzer, I'm going to kill you," Emmett said to Edward.

"I'm going to go with a Tom Collins," Edward said, trying to conceal his laughter.

"Don't move, I'll be right back!" the queen said.

"This is so exciting! I want to go dance!" Alice said. "Next time I'm in London, I have to come back here!"

"I'll have my bachelorette here," Rosalie said.

"Oh, that'll be so fun!" Alice squealed.

I exchanged a glance with Edward. He grinned.

It was no surprise when _Umbrella_ by Rihanna came on and the bouncer queen emerged on stage in a completely different outfit and lip synched to a dance routine I could only dream of doing in pointe slippers with a dance cane. She was absolutely spectacular.

"Her name is Whitney Spears," Edward explained. "She's been on the circuit for a few years, now. This is all good fun, isn't it?"

"I wish I could dance like that! How did you get into the gay club scene?"

"A lot of drag queens asked for my help as a pianist for rehearsals, and that's how I became friends with them. They asked me to come see their shows," he said, shrugging. "I have nothing against the gay community, they're very accepting."

When the song was over, Whitney Spears mixed into the dance floor. Everyone- but Emmett- clapped for her. "That was so great," I said. By then, our drinks arrived. The acrobats resumed their routine overhead. We finished our drinks and had a few more as they twirled above our heads. A few more drag queens performed.

"Let's dance!" Alice cried.

"Don't leave me alone here," Emmett cried.

"So come dance with us!" Rose said.

"No!" Emmett cried.

By then, we went to the dance floor. I was feeling a bit light-headed as I took Edward's hand. He swung me around and I threw my arms around his neck. The world twirled around me in this circus. For some reason, I felt like I was in a circus in a fantasyland. I looked into his eyes and felt a sense of safety and comfort. Yes, I had gotten Edward all wrong.


	11. Chapter 11

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

**_Mad Donna's is not a real night clubs in London. I made it up. Unfortunately._**

* * *

While we were on the dance floor, a drag queen got up on the mic.

"Did everyone have a Happy Christmas?" she asked. "I want to sing something for you all, but I don't have a pianist..." The crowd hooted and laughed. "Now you silly things! I didn't mean it like that! Isn't there someone in the audience who plays the piano?"

"Sorry, they're calling me. Have another drink on my tab," Edward said.

He stepped forward. "Oh look!" the drag queen said. "It my little buddy Eddie! He plays the piano, don't you? Isn't he pretty? I think so too!" Edward sat down at the grand piano. "Eddie!" she cried. "You're not going to help me up!? Some gentleman you are!" Edward shrugged theatrically for the crowd at his faux pas, and got up to help her onto the top of the piano. The crowd clapped and she kissed Edward on the cheek. "What do you want me to sing for you? A little Girls Aloud? Danni Minogue?"

There were a few shouts from the crowd.

"Alright, alright!" she cried. "I'll sing something we all know." She said something to Edward, who chuckled. He began playing a lounge medley and the drag queen tried to look serious. "_I made it through the wilderness/ somehow I made it through/ didn't know how lost I was until I found you."_

It was hysterical.

When Edward and the drag queen were done singing in the worst singing voice I had ever heard, she jumped off the piano and took a bow. "Let's hear it for Eddie!" she said. Everyone cheered for Edward, who took a quick bow.

Emmet was back in the booth and was pouting, still- Rose was back to talking to Alice about wedding stuff and Jasper was nursing a beer. Edward and I stopped at the bar. "So, let's get one more drink," he said. "What do you want?"

"Something strong!" I cried.

"Eddie! What can I get you?" the bartender in a mesh shirt asked.

"A strong gin and tonic and… something non-alcoholic," he said.

"Hey!" I cried.

"Somebody's got to drive!" he cried.

He didn't let me pay for the drink. We went back to our booth, where Emmett was arguing with Rosalie about going home. "We can call a cab and get out of this flamboyant fantasy land!"

"Emmett, I'm having a really good time!" Rose complained. "Why do you want to be the buzzkill?"

"You're not going to catch homosexia here," Alice here.

"I've been coming here for years," Edward said. "They don't care that I'm not gay."

"I'm staying," I said, my head suddenly too heavy for my neck. It kept on rolling to the sides until Edward took my head and put it on his shoulder.

"Maybe we should get going, it's almost 2am," he said. "We've all had some fun… well, except for Emmett."

Alice frowned. "I want to go out again!" she cried. "Tomorrow night!"

"Alright, we will," Edward said. "Come on, I'm taking you drunks home."

Edward and I lead the group out of the night club. I was kind of sad to be leaving. I had to sleep on Emmett's shoulder on the way home.

I didn't want to wake up when we got to the Masen's house. Emmett shook me awake and we stumbled up the steps and to the lounge, where I was laid out on the couch. I could hear the voices around me while everyone got their nightcaps.

"Here, have this," Edward said, quietly, sitting me up. I opened my eyes and he handed me the glass. I took a sip. It was tasty. Alice and Rosalie were talking about how Rose needed to have nightcaps at the end of her wedding. "Maybe this isn't the best thing for you," Edward said, sitting beside me.

Alice and Rose were going upstairs. "Where are Emmett and Jasper?"

"They went to bed," he said.

"I think I'm going to sleep downstairs," I said. I wasn't sure I could make it up the stairs after all the drinks I had had.

"You can't sleep downstairs," Edward said. "Mom and Dad get up early. And Hattie gets here at 7 am. Come on." He picked me up.

"I'm heavy, aren't I?"

"You're not that bad," he said. He carried me up the stairs but had to take a break on the second floor. "I'm thinking about putting you in my bed and taking yours."

"Why don't we?" I asked.

He carried me into his bed room. It wasn't as nerdy as I thought it would be- navy blue walls and white moulding at the ceiling at the floor. There was a ship motif and a star pattern on the bedding. He sat me down on the bed and took my shoes off. "I bet you could have gotten up the stairs had you not been on these shoes all night," he said. My feet felt like they were molded to the shape of my heels. He pulled the covers back and put me in bed, pulling the covers over me. I felt his lips graze my forehead. "Good night, Bella," he said.

"'Night," I said.

He turned out the lights. It wasn't long before the room started spinning. I must have had more to drink than I thought. It was like being on a centrifuge. Ugh…

* * *

In the morning, I had the mother of all hangovers when Liz came into the room. "Bella, you feel like getting up?" she asked.

"No," I croaked.

"You kids must have had a blast," she said.

"Where am I?"

"Edward's room. He slept in the room you're sharing with Alice and Rosalie," she said. "I only placed them in that room for good measure." I tried to smile and nodded. "But, he's up and making pancakes for everyone that's not hungover. I could always trust Edward to make a good decision. I'll let you sleep."

"Thanks," I muttered.

I slept a few more hours until I could physically get out of bed. I went upstairs to shower and brush the old sock taste out of my mouth. Dressed in clean clothes, I went downstairs. "Hi, Bella," Edward said. "I can heat up the pan for some pancakes."

"That sounds really good," I said.

The whole house was talking about what they wanted to do for the day. Alice wanted to go to Harrod's after-Christmas sales, but Carlisle was insisting that it would be a better thing to do something educational. We voted and we decided on the British Museum. Jasper offered to take her to the department store after we got out. We all uploaded the tours from online onto our iPods at Jasper's encouragement.

The British Museum was much much more interesting than we all thought. There was currently a Babylon exhibit and another one on Iran. We had lunch in the museum. I finally spent some money on some souvenirs for Angela and some of the other RAs and then for Charlie. We went on to the Greek and Egyptian permanent exhibits where we were allowed to use cameras, here.

We didn't leave until we were all starving for dinner. We went home for dinner this time. Alice missed the sales at Harrod's and Harvey Nic's, but that was Okay- as she enjoyed the British Museum.

"Are we going to go out to a gay night club tonight?" Alice begged after dinner. "Please?"

"Not again," Edward said.

"I don't think I could take being that hung over again," I said.

"I had a good time, though," Jasper said. "That isn't the only gay club in London, is it?"

"No," Edward said. "There are several. Dante's is pretty popular. There's three levels-"

"I want to go there!" Alice cried. "It sounds so cool!"

"I wonder if we can have an engagement party in one of those clubs," Rose said.

"I know the owners of a few of them, we can talk to them," Edward offered.

After Tony, Liz, Carlisle and Esme went to bed, we left for Dante's.


	12. Chapter 12

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

_Dante's is not a real night clubs in London. I made it up. Unfortunately. If I could make a real night club, I'd make it just like Dante's._

* * *

Dante's was loosely based on Dante's _Inferno_, and I stress loosely. The level we had entered on was decorated to look like a rain forest. I realized it was supposed to be the Garden of Eden.

"I'll get your booze in first drink," Edward offered. After we got drinks, he took me upstairs. Our friends stayed behind in the Garden of Eden. The upstairs was all cool colors like blues, pinks, fluffy clouds, cloud machines and pretty white leather couches. I figured it was supposed to be heaven.

"Let me guess," I said as we worked our way through the writhing bodies. "the basement is supposed to be hell."

"Yes," he said.

"Is it more interesting?" I asked.

"This level gets interesting when they start the foam dancing," he said.

We took a seat on one of the couches. "Foam dancing- I never did that," I said.

"It's a lot of fun," Edward said. "You get groped a lot, but…"

"Oh, I'll have to watch out," I said.

"Bella, this is a gay bar, I didn't mean you."

"Oh."

Emmett and Rosalie came upstairs a few drinks later- and they were wild-eyed. "Bella, you've gotta come downstairs- the basement is awesome!" Emmett yelled. I could tell he had had a drink already. "It's a dungeon- like S&M, leather, whips and chains- it's so cool!"

"We just came up from there!" Rose yelled, her hair sweaty at the roots. She was grinning like mad.

"We're waiting for the foam dancing," I told them.

"They're foam dancing on this level?" Emmett cried. At that moment, foam began pouring out of a machine overhead. Rose and I ran onto the dance floor with Emmett and we started dancing to techno music under the foam. I couldn't see anything except vague shapes. I wished I was wearing a bikini- it would be freezing on the way to the car. I was just drunk enough that I lost my sense of direction.

Somewhere, in the foam haze, I found a familiar form, covered in bubbles. He brushed them out of his green eyes, looking down at me, grinning. My arms encircled his lanky form, it molded into his. It just felt natural when our lips connected.

* * *

When the bubbles faded away, we went downstairs to head into the basement and to look for Alice and Jasper. We couldn't find them. Eventually, we found them in the basement.

The basement was quite frightening, if not funny. It was a dungeon alright. People were dressed in S&M leather bondage gear, dancing in cages and there was fire everywhere, too. Most of the people who were freezing from dancing in the foam were trying to warm up down here. Alice was hugging Jasper's middle, who was shirtless. His shirt was tucked into his waistband and he was just drunk enough to laugh at himself. "I could really get into this gay bar stuff!" Jasper said, seeing us. "What happened to you guys?"

"We went foam dancing," Rose yelled over the music.

This level was like Halloween.

It felt like I hadn't come to London, but a grown-up version of Disney World the last two nights. What the hell else was going to happen?

Edward got up to get us more drinks. "I'll be back soon," he promised.

I sat in the giant booth, watching the dancing. I swore that half the people on the floor had to be on drugs. I sat, sipping the remnants of my drink until I realized Edward had been gone for a long time. At one of the bars, I saw him. I could see his head of wild auburn hair over the crowd. He was talking to some one and did not seem happy.

I didn't want to intrude, but I waited fifteen minutes, and he was still talking and glowering at the same person. It _was_ getting late.

I pushed my way through the topless men taking drink orders until I was only about ten feet from him. The crowd was thin enough that I could see who he was talking to- a pretty, strawberry blonde that looked like a shorter version of a Victoria's Secret Supermodel. She had the pout, the legs, even the jewelry. She was obviously a little more 'posh' than I- something about her seemed classier than me all together. There was obviously some unresolved sexual tension here. I didn't want to disturb them, suddenly. I felt kind of foolish for even kissing him in the Heaven level.

There was only one alternative- the restroom. I headed for the toilet, hoping for some peace there. There was a line! Damn it.

After taking a few minutes to pee and make sure my lipstick wasn't going crazy angles, I looked in the mirror. I didn't look half bad. So what if my clothes weren't designer? I had always had pride in being from Forks. Maybe Charlie couldn't pay for everything, but I had developed an actual work ethic because of it. That made me good person. And class- I was raised with good manners. I was a good person. Just as good as that girl who had been talking to him by the bar.

I was going to proudly march my ass right back in there. I had every right to Edward Masen as anybody else in this bar.

At our booth, Edward was alone with our drinks.

"Sorry that took so long," he said.

"I just went to the restroom," I explained.

"Oh."

"Who was that girl?"

"Just somebody," he said, shrugging. "Forget about it."

It was getting late and the club was beginning to empty out. We decided to go.

The drive home to the Masen's was quiet. We were all partied out. We tried to climb the steps and quietly as possible to keep from waking Liz and Tony, but I was pretty sure we woke the whole house when Emmett missed a step and landed with a huge _thunk_.

"Good night," Alice said, slipping into Jasper's room.

"'Night," we chorused.

"Baby, go ahead," Rose said. "I just gotta get something out of my room."

"Alright, see you in a few," Emmett said.

Rose changed quickly into her skimpy pajamas. "Bella, you know my wedding day wouldn't be complete without my friends," she said. "Would you be one of my bridesmaids?"

"Of course," I said, feeling a surge of relief. Rose hadn't forgotten about me.

"Good. I can't wait. I'll see you in the morning," she said, kissing my cheek. She scampered down the hall to Emmett's room.

The room I had been staying in was so lonely. I changed into my pajamas and pulled back the covers. I sighed. No.

I tip-toed downstairs to Edward's room and knocked on the door. "Yes?" he said, softly. I opened the door.

"Hi," I said, unsure.

"Come now, this room gets cold," he said.


	13. Chapter 13

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

**_Lemon warning. Come on, it's M/NC-17 rated._**

* * *

I spent the night in an uneasy sleep. I kept on dreaming that James was in the Masen's house and it made me uneasy that everybody liked him.

As I woke up, I decided it was time to talk about James with two of my best friends. And Ang would hear the whole story when I got back to Washington.

I went downstairs, avoiding the shower. When I reached the final step, I ran into Edward. For some reason, my cheeks burned at seeing him. "Hi, Bella," he said. "People are set to start arriving around noon. You might want to get dressed."

"Yeah," I said, avoiding his gaze.

I had imagined him naked last night. Completely buck naked. Ugh, I was a terrible person.

In the kitchen, Liz was showing Rose, Alice and Jasper Jordan Almonds- roasted almonds covered in white chocolate. "'Morning, Bella," she said.

"'Morning," I said.

"I was just telling them the tradition of Jordan Almonds," she said.

"Yeah, you give these as wedding favors," Alice said. "They're really tasty. Want one?"

More wedding stuff. I just couldn't take it. "They're pretty," I admitted.

"We've got Danish Pastry for breakfast," Liz said.

"I think I'm going to get dressed for the party today," I said, taking one. I ran upstairs.

I tossed the pastry in the garbage- erm _bin_. All I wanted was for somebody to fucking listen. It had been six fucking days. Fucking shit. When was anybody going to pay attention to me? Right now, I was ready to talk about James. Well, I had been. Now, I couldn't talk about it. I hugged my knees.

I realized I had been sitting on the bed for twenty minutes. I couldn't sit up here like this forever. I put on my dress and shoes and straightened out my hair. While I was putting on my make-up, my hands were shaking.

Finally, I went downstairs.

People had started arriving.

"…And this is Rosalie Hale, my nephew's fiancée," Tony was telling one of his Doctor friends. Rosalie gave her best smile, dazzling the doctor and his wife. "She goes to the University of Washington Seattle."

"Hi, nice to meet you," she said, sweetly. I gripped the wooden arms of the chair I was sitting in.

"Bella?"

"Hi, Edward," I mumbled.

"It looks like you're about to have a mental breakdown," he said.

"I am," I said, feeling the tears choke me.

"Let's get out of here," he offered. We went outside to the garage, er- carriage house- where Tony's car was parked. Edward let me into the passenger seat. I felt my hands getting shakier than before.

"Come now, Bella, what's the problem?" he asked.

"Are we even visible in there?" I asked.

"No," he said, giving me a sympathetic grin. He pulled out and began driving. "What do you want to do?"

"Something where I don't have to talk."

"I've got the perfect place," he said. "There's a double-feature Bollywood film being shown."

"Sounds perfect."

"I take it you actually _do_ want to talk."

"Mmm-hmm." I drew in a sharp breath. "I broke up with someone, and I haven't really talked about it with my friends. Until today. And now, I just want to burst."

"So, we're in the same boat."

"How so?"

"I just broke up with some one, too. If you want, I can go first."

"Go ahead."

"She was cheating on me," he said. "And she never admitted to it although I saw her with him. She lied so much I didn't know which my up from down."

"How recent was this?"

"Just a few days before you got here," he said. "She calls me in the middle of the night and begs for me to take her back. I think she really wanted me for my money."

"Is that why you were so angry with me on the first night?"

"Yes- I thought you had heard our conversation," he said. "I felt like such a fool. And I thought you knew what was going on."

"Did your parents know?"

"No, my parents don't know about her. We hadn't been seeing each other that long," he said. "I was going to bring her home for Christmas when I found out."

"How did you meet?"

"At one of the clubs. She was friends with one of the drag queens, and they hooked us up together because we were both American."

"Oh," I said. "What was her name?"

"Tanya. She works at a London advertising firm," he said. "I fell pretty fast for her. It hurt pretty badly once I realized she didn't place the same value on me."

"I'd rather be cheated on than have all the stupid shit I've gone through happen to me," I said.

"Alright, your turn, then," he said.

"I met a cute lifeguard last summer," I said. "He was a mystery, but I kind of liked him that way. And then, he was a little weird."

"Like how?"

"Like…" I blushed heavily. "He couldn't come while looking at my face."

Edward thought for a moment. "Bella, he must have been a complete freak of nature," he said. "That's not normal."

"I'm so glad," I said, a gush of air escaping my lips.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because he didn't want to look at me when… he came."

"That's not normal. Sounds like you had a winner, there."

"Really?"

"Because you're making love to someone, there should be that one moment where you just look into their eyes and you just connect. And it's beautiful," he said. "That- to me- is the mystery. What was his name?"

"James," I said. I rubbed my lips together. "There were lots of other things, too."

"Like what?"

My cheeks burned. I had already said too much. "Just stuff," I answered. This conversation had already gone too far. He drove the rest of the way to the theatre in silence.

We watched the Bollywood movies. I had never seen them before, and it was actually pretty good. We didn't have to talk.

After the Bollywood movies, we went home. Edward's cell phone didn't have any calls from home, although a few of his friends called to wish him a happy New Year.

"We're so dead," Edward muttered. "Mom and Dad have probably called Scotland Yard since you're from out of the country on a tourist's visa."

"Great," I muttered.

When we got to the house, there were no cop cars there. There were lots of people who had stopped by to see the Masens. Edward pulled the car into the carriage house and we walked into the backdoor.

"Hey, where've you been? There have been people asking about your cousin's engagements!" Liz said, pouring a few drinks at the bar. She ran out into the crowd of people.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I cried.

Edward went into the bar and picked up a few bottles of cheap wine, which he hid in his coat and two whiskey glasses. He took my hand and we made a break for the staircase.

He took me up to the top floor, my room.

"Bloody hell," he grumbled, screwing off the wine's cap. "Could they be any worse about them?"

"You know, I've been so close to Rose and Alice for so long, I'm surprised Alice hasn't asked me to be in her wedding party, yet," I said.

"She's been so bloody obsessed with this wedding," he grumbled. "Everything we've done has to do with it."

I downed the wine- it was cheap as hell.

The more we drank, the looser my tongue got.

"So, tell me," he said. "Why can't you talk about James?"

"He was a complete pervert," I said, laying down on Alice's supposed bed.

"All men are perverts."

"He surfed all over porn sites on my computer when I wasn't around and it made my laptop crash," I moaned. "He wouldn't admit to it, either."

He started laughing. "Most guys watch porn in some fashion," he said, shrugging. "What's the big deal?"

"It was really icky stuff," I said. "Well,_ I_ felt like it was sick."

"What was it?"

"Anal sex. And they'd come all over them afterwards," I said. He started laughing.

"It's a sign of dominance," he said.

"We broke up when he brought a friend of his over and asked me to sleep with him while he watched," I said. "

"You didn't do that, did you?"

"No."

"Good, because that's just one step away from acting in a porn film," he said. We both started laughing. "All he needed was a camera."

"So you think it's weird?"

"Yes! You're better off without him."

"So I'm not bad in bed because I wouldn't do all those things with him?"

"I wouldn't know- I've never had sex with you, Bella." My cheeks burned. "You made a limit and you wouldn't let him cross it because it made you uncomfortable."

"He told me I was an innocent," I said. "Like I wasn't capable of having sex like a grown-up."

"He was a sick bastard, from what you've told me."

"Good," I said, laying my head back down. "I feel sooo much better." Actually, I didn't. My stomach was starting to churn.

"Too much wine?"

"Yeeeeaaah," I said.

"Sit up slowly, I can get you to the bathroom if you're going to get sick," he said. I tried to, but at that moment, the alcoholic contents of my stomach came up- all over the coverlet.

"Oh God," I mumbled.

"Feel any better?"

"No. It stinks in here, now."

"I know. Hattie can get it," he said. "Let's go to my room." He picked me up and took me downstairs to his bedroom. I went to his bathroom and took the only spare tooth brush and brushed the vomit taste out my mouth.

"You're covered in sick," he informed me as I entered the room.

"I know," I said, looking down at my clothes. Being drunk, I stripped down to my bra and panties.

"Bella, stop," he said.

"It smells," I muttered. I laid face-down on the bed.

"You really can't hold your drink," he said.

"I guess not," I said into the pillow. Mmm, it smelled like him. I could tell he was laying down next to me by the weight next to me on the bed. I closed my eyes again. I don't know how long I closed them for, but I woke up when he rolled me over. This was how it all started with James. I probably wouldn't have slept with James that night after we went out for the first time, had we hadn't been drinking.

"Feeling any better?" he asked. I was definitely still drunk, but not feeling so nauseous.

"No," I said. "If I had just taken it up the ass like he asked, would he have even said anything like that to me?"

"Like what?"

"That I'm an innocent."

"You're not an innocent, Bella. I can tell," he said, in a low, sexy voice. His lips were hovering so close to mine. When I kissed him, he tasted like that cheap wine we had been drinking. I moaned softly into the kiss. He had taken off his shirt while I had closed my eyes and slipped out of consciousness. "Nobody who kisses like that is innocent." A hand slipped into my panties. "Bloody hell, you're wet," he said as his finger penetrated me. My hips bucked slightly. "That's enough." His finger retracted from me.

"No!" I whined.

"Bella, we can't," he said.

"Yes we can."

He kissed me again. "Bella, it's wrong."

"I want to." I felt my way down his back. He was wearing boxer shorts. Yes. "I need to."

His lips found my neck. "You don't know how good you smell, Isabella," he said. He pulled my bra straps down towards my elbows so my nipples were exposed to his chest. "Is that good enough?"

"No!"

His hands cupped my breasts. I groaned. "You just won't be satisfied, will you?" he asked, his thumbs stroking my breasts. "How's that?"

"Wonderful." I ran my fingers through his short hairs, sighing. His mouth found my nipple- it hardened in his mouth while his tongue circled the areola. I moaned- his tongued flicked my nipple- and I sighed.

"Bella, I have to stop," he said.

"No, you don't," I said.

He slipped his hands under my back and flipped us over so I was on top. My back arched and his hands drifted down to my underwear, squeezing my ass. I reached behind myself, fumbling around until I got my bra unhooked. I sat up on him and tossed the bra off. "There," I said. "Do you me on top?"

"Take off your knickers," he said. I took off my panties while he got out of his shorts. Now, we were completely naked together. He was absolutely spectacular naked. I ran my finger down his length. His breathing rate increased. I wrapped my hand around the base and squeezed upwards until my hand was right under the head. I dipped my head down and ran my tongue over the tip. I increased my pressure slightly as if that would squeeze out the liquid a little more. "Bella…"

I let go. "This is a little much, isn't it?" I asked. "It's too soon."

He nodded. "Let's try something different," he said.

"Okay," I said.

"Lay down on top of me." I did as told. He cupped my ass cheeks. I closed my eyes and sighed, opening my legs to him. His dick was stiff right on my slick, wet opening. "No, no… Bella, close your legs."

"What?"

"It's called interfemoral," he said. "It's been practiced for centuries to preserve virginity but still have sexual intimacy."

"I'm no virgin."

"I know that. But we're not ready for actual sex, yet." I did as told, clamping my legs around his dick, squeezing it close to my wet pussy although he wasn't inside me. I looked up at him- his eyes fluttered closed. "Oh, shit… that feels so good." I propped myself up on my forearms ontop of his chest. "Move, please, Bella." I lifted my hips, slightly, only to discover this created direct friction with my clit.

_Oh._

My ankles crossed and my knees bent. His hands stayed on my ass. I moaned while he squeezed my butt. "Oh shit…" I groaned.

"Bella, you're fantastic," he moaned. "Shit…"

I didn't want to come quickly, but my clit was about to send me over the edge the more I rubbed him against me. I squeezed my legs together and cried out, softly, punctuated with short, distinct gasps. His hips bucked against mine, bringing me over the edge. I opened my eyes and felt the hot come shooting out at the top of my thighs, right under my cheeks. "Hell," he grunted, quivering.

I knew exactly what he had been talking about earlier.

"Was that real?" I asked, sinking down to his chest, squeezing my legs together.

"Yeah, it was," he said. "Didn't you do that before you officially lost your virginity?"

"No," I admitted.

"Don't sit down on my bed just yet," he said.

"Alright," I said, getting up, laying down on my stomach on his bed. He got up and went to the bathroom to retrieve a towel. He wiped the come off my ass. "I can't believe you came on my ass."

"I'm sorry. I should have thought and worn a condom," he said. "Would you like a shower?"

"With you?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes. It's better to wash it off before it dries."

I took his hand and he helped me off the bed into the bathroom. He only had a shower stall, no bathtub, the water running. We were both still so drunk I stubbed my toe on the way in. "Ow!" I cried, grabbing my foot.

"Come now," he said, helping me into the shower. The hot water felt good against my cold skin. I stood under the shower spray. It was fun to get drunk and take showers. Especially with Edward.

He washed my hair. I kept my eyes shut so we didn't get any suds in them. I just wanted to close my eyes and go to sleep, but if I slept it off, I'd miss this moment with Edward. His hands washed me, cleaning off the sticky mess on my backside. When we were cleaned up properly, he put wrapped me up in a towel and put me back in the bed to sleep it all off.

* * *

PSA- I know that underage people read M-rated fanfics even though their parents probably wouldn't approve. What Edward and Bella just did CAN get you preggers or an STD, so it's important to use a condom when having sex, even when you're doing it interfemorally. If you wouldn't want to watch your parents do it, it's probably sex and you need protection. Minors having unprotected sex makes me sad :(


	14. Chapter 14

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

**_Lemon warning. Come on, it's M/NC-17 rated._**

* * *

I spent the night in an uneasy sleep. I kept on dreaming that James was in the Masen's house and it made me uneasy that everybody liked him.

As I woke up, I decided it was time to talk about James with two of my best friends. And Ang would hear the whole story when I got back to Washington.

I went downstairs, avoiding the shower. When I reached the final step, I ran into Edward. For some reason, my cheeks burned at seeing him. "Hi, Bella," he said. "People are set to start arriving around noon. You might want to get dressed."

"Yeah," I said, avoiding his gaze.

I had imagined him naked last night. Completely buck naked. Ugh, I was a terrible person.

In the kitchen, Liz was showing Rose, Alice and Jasper Jordan Almonds- roasted almonds covered in white chocolate. "'Morning, Bella," she said.

"'Morning," I said.

"I was just telling them the tradition of Jordan Almonds," she said.

"Yeah, you give these as wedding favors," Alice said. "They're really tasty. Want one?"

More wedding stuff. I just couldn't take it. "They're pretty," I admitted.

"We've got Danish Pastry for breakfast," Liz said.

"I think I'm going to get dressed for the party today," I said, taking one. I ran upstairs.

I tossed the pastry in the garbage- erm _bin_. All I wanted was for somebody to fucking listen. It had been six fucking days. Fucking shit. When was anybody going to pay attention to me? Right now, I was ready to talk about James. Well, I had been. Now, I couldn't talk about it. I hugged my knees.

I realized I had been sitting on the bed for twenty minutes. I couldn't sit up here like this forever. I put on my dress and shoes and straightened out my hair. While I was putting on my make-up, my hands were shaking.

Finally, I went downstairs.

People had started arriving.

"…And this is Rosalie Hale, my nephew's fiancée," Tony was telling one of his Doctor friends. Rosalie gave her best smile, dazzling the doctor and his wife. "She goes to the University of Washington Seattle."

"Hi, nice to meet you," she said, sweetly. I gripped the wooden arms of the chair I was sitting in.

"Bella?"

"Hi, Edward," I mumbled.

"It looks like you're about to have a mental breakdown," he said.

"I am," I said, feeling the tears choke me.

"Let's get out of here," he offered. We went outside to the garage, er- carriage house- where Tony's car was parked. Edward let me into the passenger seat. I felt my hands getting shakier than before.

"Come now, Bella, what's the problem?" he asked.

"Are we even visible in there?" I asked.

"No," he said, giving me a sympathetic grin. He pulled out and began driving. "What do you want to do?"

"Something where I don't have to talk."

"I've got the perfect place," he said. "There's a double-feature Bollywood film being shown."

"Sounds perfect."

"I take it you actually _do_ want to talk."

"Mmm-hmm." I drew in a sharp breath. "I broke up with someone, and I haven't really talked about it with my friends. Until today. And now, I just want to burst."

"So, we're in the same boat."

"How so?"

"I just broke up with some one, too. If you want, I can go first."

"Go ahead."

"She was cheating on me," he said. "And she never admitted to it although I saw her with him. She lied so much I didn't know which my up from down."

"How recent was this?"

"Just a few days before you got here," he said. "She calls me in the middle of the night and begs for me to take her back. I think she really wanted me for my money."

"Is that why you were so angry with me on the first night?"

"Yes- I thought you had heard our conversation," he said. "I felt like such a fool. And I thought you knew what was going on."

"Did your parents know?"

"No, my parents don't know about her. We hadn't been seeing each other that long," he said. "I was going to bring her home for Christmas when I found out."

"How did you meet?"

"At one of the clubs. She was friends with one of the drag queens, and they hooked us up together because we were both American."

"Oh," I said. "What was her name?"

"Tanya. She works at a London advertising firm," he said. "I fell pretty fast for her. It hurt pretty badly once I realized she didn't place the same value on me."

"I'd rather be cheated on than have all the stupid shit I've gone through happen to me," I said.

"Alright, your turn, then," he said.

"I met a cute lifeguard last summer," I said. "He was a mystery, but I kind of liked him that way. And then, he was a little weird."

"Like how?"

"Like…" I blushed heavily. "He couldn't come while looking at my face."

Edward thought for a moment. "Bella, he must have been a complete freak of nature," he said. "That's not normal."

"I'm so glad," I said, a gush of air escaping my lips.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because he didn't want to look at me when… he came."

"That's not normal. Sounds like you had a winner, there."

"Really?"

"Because you're making love to someone, there should be that one moment where you just look into their eyes and you just connect. And it's beautiful," he said. "That- to me- is the mystery. What was his name?"

"James," I said. I rubbed my lips together. "There were lots of other things, too."

"Like what?"

My cheeks burned. I had already said too much. "Just stuff," I answered. This conversation had already gone too far. He drove the rest of the way to the theatre in silence.

We watched the Bollywood movies. I had never seen them before, and it was actually pretty good. We didn't have to talk.

After the Bollywood movies, we went home. Edward's cell phone didn't have any calls from home, although a few of his friends called to wish him a happy New Year.

"We're so dead," Edward muttered. "Mom and Dad have probably called Scotland Yard since you're from out of the country on a tourist's visa."

"Great," I muttered.

When we got to the house, there were no cop cars there. There were lots of people who had stopped by to see the Masens. Edward pulled the car into the carriage house and we walked into the backdoor.

"Hey, where've you been? There have been people asking about your cousin's engagements!" Liz said, pouring a few drinks at the bar. She ran out into the crowd of people.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I cried.

Edward went into the bar and picked up a few bottles of cheap wine, which he hid in his coat and two whiskey glasses. He took my hand and we made a break for the staircase.

He took me up to the top floor, my room.

"Bloody hell," he grumbled, screwing off the wine's cap. "Could they be any worse about them?"

"You know, I've been so close to Rose and Alice for so long, I'm surprised Alice hasn't asked me to be in her wedding party, yet," I said.

"She's been so bloody obsessed with this wedding," he grumbled. "Everything we've done has to do with it."

I downed the wine- it was cheap as hell.

The more we drank, the looser my tongue got.

"So, tell me," he said. "Why can't you talk about James?"

"He was a complete pervert," I said, laying down on Alice's supposed bed.

"All men are perverts."

"He surfed all over porn sites on my computer when I wasn't around and it made my laptop crash," I moaned. "He wouldn't admit to it, either."

He started laughing. "Most guys watch porn in some fashion," he said, shrugging. "What's the big deal?"

"It was really icky stuff," I said. "Well,_ I_ felt like it was sick."

"What was it?"

"Anal sex. And they'd come all over them afterwards," I said. He started laughing.

"It's a sign of dominance," he said.

"We broke up when he brought a friend of his over and asked me to sleep with him while he watched," I said. "

"You didn't do that, did you?"

"No."

"Good, because that's just one step away from acting in a porn film," he said. We both started laughing. "All he needed was a camera."

"So you think it's weird?"

"Yes! You're better off without him."

"So I'm not bad in bed because I wouldn't do all those things with him?"

"I wouldn't know- I've never had sex with you, Bella." My cheeks burned. "You made a limit and you wouldn't let him cross it because it made you uncomfortable."

"He told me I was an innocent," I said. "Like I wasn't capable of having sex like a grown-up."

"He was a sick bastard, from what you've told me."

"Good," I said, laying my head back down. "I feel sooo much better." Actually, I didn't. My stomach was starting to churn.

"Too much wine?"

"Yeeeeaaah," I said.

"Sit up slowly, I can get you to the bathroom if you're going to get sick," he said. I tried to, but at that moment, the alcoholic contents of my stomach came up- all over the coverlet.

"Oh God," I mumbled.

"Feel any better?"

"No. It stinks in here, now."

"I know. Hattie can get it," he said. "Let's go to my room." He picked me up and took me downstairs to his bedroom. I went to his bathroom and took the only spare tooth brush and brushed the vomit taste out my mouth.

"You're covered in sick," he informed me as I entered the room.

"I know," I said, looking down at my clothes. Being drunk, I stripped down to my bra and panties.

"Bella, stop," he said.

"It smells," I muttered. I laid face-down on the bed.

"You really can't hold your drink," he said.

"I guess not," I said into the pillow. Mmm, it smelled like him. I could tell he was laying down next to me by the weight next to me on the bed. I closed my eyes again. I don't know how long I closed them for, but I woke up when he rolled me over. This was how it all started with James. I probably wouldn't have slept with James that night after we went out for the first time, had we hadn't been drinking.

"Feeling any better?" he asked. I was definitely still drunk, but not feeling so nauseous.

"No," I said. "If I had just taken it up the ass like he asked, would he have even said anything like that to me?"

"Like what?"

"That I'm an innocent."

"You're not an innocent, Bella. I can tell," he said, in a low, sexy voice. His lips were hovering so close to mine. When I kissed him, he tasted like that cheap wine we had been drinking. I moaned softly into the kiss. He had taken off his shirt while I had closed my eyes and slipped out of consciousness. "Nobody who kisses like that is innocent." A hand slipped into my panties. "Bloody hell, you're wet," he said as his finger penetrated me. My hips bucked slightly. "That's enough." His finger retracted from me.

"No!" I whined.

"Bella, we can't," he said.

"Yes we can."

He kissed me again. "Bella, it's wrong."

"I want to." I felt my way down his back. He was wearing boxer shorts. Yes. "I need to."

His lips found my neck. "You don't know how good you smell, Isabella," he said. He pulled my bra straps down towards my elbows so my nipples were exposed to his chest. "Is that good enough?"

"No!"

His hands cupped my breasts. I groaned. "You just won't be satisfied, will you?" he asked, his thumbs stroking my breasts. "How's that?"

"Wonderful." I ran my fingers through his short hairs, sighing. His mouth found my nipple- it hardened in his mouth while his tongue circled the areola. I moaned- his tongued flicked my nipple- and I sighed.

"Bella, I have to stop," he said.

"No, you don't," I said.

He slipped his hands under my back and flipped us over so I was on top. My back arched and his hands drifted down to my underwear, squeezing my ass. I reached behind myself, fumbling around until I got my bra unhooked. I sat up on him and tossed the bra off. "There," I said. "Do you me on top?"

"Take off your knickers," he said. I took off my panties while he got out of his shorts. Now, we were completely naked together. He was absolutely spectacular naked. I ran my finger down his length. His breathing rate increased. I wrapped my hand around the base and squeezed upwards until my hand was right under the head. I dipped my head down and ran my tongue over the tip. I increased my pressure slightly as if that would squeeze out the liquid a little more. "Bella…"

I let go. "This is a little much, isn't it?" I asked. "It's too soon."

He nodded. "Let's try something different," he said.

"Okay," I said.

"Lay down on top of me." I did as told. He cupped my ass cheeks. I closed my eyes and sighed, opening my legs to him. His dick was stiff right on my slick, wet opening. "No, no… Bella, close your legs."

"What?"

"It's called interfemoral," he said. "It's been practiced for centuries to preserve virginity but still have sexual intimacy."

"I'm no virgin."

"I know that. But we're not ready for actual sex, yet." I did as told, clamping my legs around his dick, squeezing it close to my wet pussy although he wasn't inside me. I looked up at him- his eyes fluttered closed. "Oh, shit… that feels so good." I propped myself up on my forearms ontop of his chest. "Move, please, Bella." I lifted my hips, slightly, only to discover this created direct friction with my clit.

_Oh._

My ankles crossed and my knees bent. His hands stayed on my ass. I moaned while he squeezed my butt. "Oh shit…" I groaned.

"Bella, you're fantastic," he moaned. "Shit…"

I didn't want to come quickly, but my clit was about to send me over the edge the more I rubbed him against me. I squeezed my legs together and cried out, softly, punctuated with short, distinct gasps. His hips bucked against mine, bringing me over the edge. I opened my eyes and felt the hot come shooting out at the top of my thighs, right under my cheeks. "Hell," he grunted, quivering.

I knew exactly what he had been talking about earlier.

"Was that real?" I asked, sinking down to his chest, squeezing my legs together.

"Yeah, it was," he said. "Didn't you do that before you officially lost your virginity?"

"No," I admitted.

"Don't sit down on my bed just yet," he said.

"Alright," I said, getting up, laying down on my stomach on his bed. He got up and went to the bathroom to retrieve a towel. He wiped the come off my ass. "I can't believe you came on my ass."

"I'm sorry. I should have thought and worn a condom," he said. "Would you like a shower?"

"With you?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes. It's better to wash it off before it dries."

I took his hand and he helped me off the bed into the bathroom. He only had a shower stall, no bathtub, the water running. We were both still so drunk I stubbed my toe on the way in. "Ow!" I cried, grabbing my foot.

"Come now," he said, helping me into the shower. The hot water felt good against my cold skin. I stood under the shower spray. It was fun to get drunk and take showers. Especially with Edward.

He washed my hair. I kept my eyes shut so we didn't get any suds in them. I just wanted to close my eyes and go to sleep, but if I slept it off, I'd miss this moment with Edward. His hands washed me, cleaning off the sticky mess on my backside. When we were cleaned up properly, he put wrapped me up in a towel and put me back in the bed to sleep it all off.

* * *

**_PSA- I know that underage people read M-rated fanfics even though their parents probably wouldn't approve. What Edward and Bella just did CAN get you preggers or an STD, so it's important to use a condom when having sex, even when you're doing it interfemorally. If you wouldn't want to watch your parents do it, it's probably sex and you need protection. Minors having unprotected sex makes me sad :(_**


	15. Chapter 15

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. _**

* * *

I woke up around midnight with most of the alcohol out of my system. I sighed when I realized Edward was gone. I searched around for my clothes and found my panties and bra that weren't soiled. I put on one of his t-shirts to go upstairs to get pajamas.

In my bedroom on the third floor, I was hoping to find Edward. He wasn't there. The remnants of our little party was. Had we really had interfemoral sex? My hair was curly, again and my make-up was smudged around under my eyes. I had to take it off and reapply.

Downstairs, Carlisle was telling a story about the ER, making everybody laugh. Edward was down there. He took my hand and led me away form everyone. "Bella," he said, softly. "We can't do that again."

"But Edward-"

"That was really wrong," he said. "I'm sorry."

"It's not that I don't want you," he said, softly. "I just…"

"I only have until the second here," I said. A bubble of panic rose with in me.

"We don't have to tell anybody," Edward said. He patted my shoulder and kissed my cheek. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Alice. Or any of the Cullens. They'd never forgive me."

I nodded. I couldn't speak.

"Bella, say something."

When I tried to speak, my tears spilled over. "Do you regret it?"

"Are you mad? No!" He wrapped his arms around me. "No. Never."

* * *

Edward worked New Year's Day. We packed up our things that night. I didn't care to have any kind of tearful, touching good-bye with him. In my things, I found a note from him. I could hardly read his handwriting, but he had written me a note.

_Bella,_

_I enjoyed your time here with me. I guess we took some getting used to each other, but like I said, I don't regret a thing that happened between us. I hope that you come back to London one day. Please, let me know if you can come back. Otherwise, I'll come to Spokane for you._

_Edward_

That bastard.

The next morning, Emmett helped me bring down my suitcase and carry-on bag.

"I'm sorry it didn't snow," Liz said. "It usually does between Christmas and New Year's."

"It's Okay- we're usually smothered in snow in Washington state," I said. She hugged me good-bye.

"I hope you come back to visit," she said. She had no idea that I gotten it on with her son last night. I blushed.

"Thanks," I said. "I wish I could return the offer but… My parents don't have very big houses."

"I understand," she said, smiling. "I loved having you here."

"Bella," Tony said. He gave me a hug. "Good luck. And have a great trip."

"Thanks," I said.

Right as I was about to slip out, Edward slipped into my path. "Did you get my letter?"

"Yes, I did, Edward."

He hugged me. "Take care."

"Thanks," I said, softly. I wanted to be hateful with him and tell him he was a giant ass hole, but he had been a friend to me when my own friends were too wrapped up in their weddings to think about me. I hugged him back.

"Call me when you get home," he said.

"I will."

The airport van took us away after we all said our good-byes.

"Has Ang been acting weird lately or what?" Rose asked. "I called her last night and she had to go really fast."

"You talked to her?" I asked.

"Yes," Rose said. "I know you've talked to her a few times."

"Yeah, I have," I said. "Come to think of it, she has been acting a little weird."

"You know, I haven't talked to her since Christmas Day," Alice said, guiltily. "I'm so glad we're going to spend a week in Forks!"


	16. Chapter 16

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. _**

* * *

I slept through most of the flight from London to New York. The flight from New York to Seattle was a lot less comfortable since I wasn't in first class. I didn't have to listen to Alice's on-going chatter about weddings at least. We went to the local terminals and took an even smaller plane to Port Angeles.

In Port Angeles, Charlie and Angela met us to pick me up and help the Cullens get their rental van to go to their house in Forks.

"Glad to have you back, Bells," Charlie said, hugging and kissing me at the baggage claim. "How did you like London?"

"Loved it," I admitted.

"I'm so glad you guys are back!" Angela said. I hugged her, too. "Theta's fine."

"Theta?"

"Remember the betta fish we stole?"

"Oh yeah!" I cried.

We got all the luggage and Carlisle got the rental car. Angela drove the Cullens home and Charlie took me back to his little house in Forks. I fell asleep in the car.

Charlie woke me up when we got to the house. He helped me get my suitcases up to my room, and I got out the souvenir I had bought for him at the Tower of London. "Thanks, Bells," Charlie said. "This is really sweet."

I called Renée and Phil when we got home to let them know I was back in Forks.

I tried to stay awake, but, as with most travels, I started falling asleep near five o'clock. My body wouldn't let me stay awake. I went to bed.

I had a dream that Edward had told his parents that I seduced him, they told Esme and Carlisle. They were horrified and all of them hated me and didn't want me at all. I didn't know what to do.

I woke up in a cold sweat.

I just needed a hot shower to forget about it all.

* * *

It took a few days to get myself back on West Coast Time. By then, Rose and Alice wanted to have a slumber party. Rose and Jasper were staying with the Cullens. Since Charlie was working an overnight shift, I offered to have the spend-the-night at my house so we could have some privacy.

"So, what happened in Forks while we were gone?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing much," Angela said, playing with the cheap plastic table's lining. "I'm sure London was much more interesting."

"You'll find out!" Rosalie cried. "I'm going to have my wedding there!"

_Oh God, here we go,_ I thought.

Angela listened diligently as Rose and Alice started talking about their weddings. I phased out until almost nine o'clock. "Is anybody else getting hungry?" Angela interrupted.

"Yeah, actually, why don't we get a pizza?" Rose asked. "I'll drive!"

We piled into Rosalie's car. "Okay, what kind of pizza do we want?" Alice asked.

"I'm okay with pepperoni," I said.

"Me too," Angela said.

"Me three," Rose said.

"No!" Alice cried. "No pepperoni! That's so gross!"

"What about sausage?" Angela asked. She was so good at negotiation.

"No, no pork products!" Alice cried.

"Can we just choose something?" I asked.

"Do you know how many toxins are in pig's flesh?" Alice complained.

"Everybody likes pepperoni," Rose said. "But you!"

"Why don't we go with cheese and just make our own toppings when we get to my house?" I sighed. "I got sliced pepperoni for Charlie as a snack to help out with his blood sugar. We can just put it on the slices-"

"I cheated on Ben!" Angela suddenly shouted.

"Wha?" everyone else in the car suddenly said. The car came to a complete stop. We all turned to look at her.

"Not you," Rosalie said. She started laughing, disbelievingly. "You're the best one of us, you'd never cheat."

Angela's chin quivered in the backseat. She took off her glasses and folded them in her lap, tears accumulating in her eyes.

My stomach turned over. She was telling the truth.

"Who was it?" I asked.

"Jacob Black," she said.

"Jacob? As in Billy Black's son?" I asked.

"No way!" Alice cried. "You're pulling a really good joke on us. You should change your major to theatre because I'm almost buying it-"

"Alice, she's telling the truth!" I cried.

Angela burst into heavy sobs, suddenly and started talking really fast. "He came over the night before Christmas Eve- it was right after Bella called- and he and his Dad bought KFC because they can't cook, and anyway- I was trying to be polite, so I started a conversation with him because my parents were talking to Billy, but I told him my car was making this weird noise, so he went outside with me and popped the hood while I held the flood light and he fixed it, so he took it out for a quick drive to test and see if it was making that noise now, and it wasn't, so I said, 'Hey, thanks, Jake, how can I ever repay you?' and oh yeah, we had been flirting all night-" she was turning blue she hadn't breathed in so long, she took a deep, gasping breath. "and he said, 'Why don't you lay one on me?' and I said, 'Jake, I've got a boyfriend' and he said, 'so what?' although I knew he was kidding, I just looked as him- he's just so big and tall and full of muscles and has that nice smile- I leaned over and kissed him anyway-"

"Ang, one kiss, I'm sure if you tell Ben about it, he won't care," Rose said. "Just tell him you're sorry and you lost your head."

"No, it gets worse," Angela sobbed. "It was the best kiss I had ever had so far! We made out in my car for like, ever, and fogged up the windows, and it didn't stop until Billy tapped on it and said something, and Jake got out and said goodnight-"

"Same diff," Rose said. "Just tell Ben and tell him you're sorry. Chances are, he'll forgive you."

"Rose, shut up," I said.

"No, that's just it, I did it again on Christmas Day when things started getting boring with my parents," she said. "I went over to his house in my car, and we drove around, and parked in Tilicum Park and he got…" she started gesturing with her hands.

"A boner?" I asked.

"Mmm-hmm," she said.

"That's not abnormal," I said.

"No, that's just it, it was so… different!"

"Ben's gotten them before with you?" I asked, thinking of the lounge in the Frosh Dorm where I saw them making out before we left for England.

"Ben's… _unfortunate_," Angela sobbed. "And Jake… _isn't_."

Alice's back was shaking. She was laughing, but trying not to make it obvious. "You don't have to tell Ben that his penis is small," Rosalie said sympathetically.

Alice laughed outloud. I smack her on the back to shut her up, but that got her laughing harder. "Poor Ben!" she cried. "I'm sorry, Ang, I'm still here for you, I just… damn, I didn't know Jake Black was packing heat!"

"Alice, shut up!" I cried. Jake was over six feet tall, the rest of him had to catch up some how. It was no surprise to me that Jake was gifted down there.

"Forget I said anything!" Angela cried, defensively. This was the first time I had ever seen her react angrily to anything.

"No, Angela, we don't care that you did that. We'll stand behind you, alright?" I said. "It's a difficult choice, here."

"I'm sorry, cock-talk still makes me giggle," Alice said. "I can't help it." she giggled a little more. "But really, Angela, I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at poor Ben's little…"

"Alice, cut it out," I cried.

"Whoever you choose, Ang-"

"No, that's the thing," Angela said. "It gets worse. If you guys had been there to discuss this with me and keep me from doing the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life, I wouldn't have done it!"

"Blame it on _us_?" Rose cried, bitterly. "_You_ chose not to come with us to England."

"Yeah, we weren't the ones that pushed you into the car with him," Alice said, venomously.

"I slept with him!"

We all gasped. Angela, our voice of reason, the little angel on all our shoulders, the conscience of our group, had done something she said she never would do- and betrayed someone in the process. She had lived vicariously through us when we talked about sex, since she had made herself a self-imposed virgin. I always thought it was like self-flagellation- denying yourself something so basic. And something like this… I wondered if Ben could ever forgive her. This was big…_huge_. It was obvious why she was so upset, now.

"Angie," I breathed, finally. Rose drove right past the pizza place.

"It was on New Year's Eve," she confessed. I felt sick. I had done something stupid on New Year's Eve, too. Ang needed to tell us and hear it was okay from us, what she had done. "Billy told us that the New Year's ball drop wasn't that great, and went to bed, so it was just Jake and me, so we went to his room, and we were making out and everything, but… he asked me if I wanted to do it, and I told him I was still a virgin, and he said, 'I know a way we can do it and you can stay a virgin-'"

"Oh, Jesus Christ, don't tell me you took it up the ass for him!" Rose hollered, as though the cabin of the car wasn't small enough. Alice shrieked in horror, clapping her hands over her mouth. I too, was horrified that a childhood friend had done something so disgusting to one of my best girlfriends. "I've been with Emmett for five years, and I have yet to let him do that to me! That's an exit, not an entrance!"

"Same here with Jasper!" Alice cried. "That's one hole he will _not_ being going down- ever!"

"Don't look at me!" I cried, when Rose and Alice turned look into the backseat, glaring at me. "That's one virginity I plan on keeping! I'm going to fucking run down Jake for that-"

"No, I didn't do _that_!" she cried, almost hyperventilating. "God, you guys! He didn't do that to me, I swear!"

"If you gave him a job blow, I'm going to laugh," Rose said.

"No…"

"Well, how _did_ you do it?" she barked. "I'm curious! And I want details!"

"We um… took off all our clothes… and then his… _thing-_"

"Just say _penis_, Okay?" Rose snapped.

"It was up in the air, and he had me lay down on top of him, and I took it between my thighs…" she said, swallowing. I began to feel nauseous. "and squeezed them together- we started moving-"

"Wait, he wasn't _inside_ you?" Rosalie asked.

"No, just between my legs."

"I hate to break it to you, babe, that's not sex," she said.

"But I orgasmed!" she cried.

"You can masturbate to orgasm, too, but that doesn't make it sex."

"Actually, that is," I said. "It's called interfemoral sex."

"You're making that up, Bella!" Rose cried.

"No, I'm not," I said. "Interfemoral sex has been practiced for years. Femoral means _legs_ in Latin. It's been around for millennia as a practice to enjoy sex but not compromise virginity."

"Oh, how would you know?" Rose snapped, turning around to look at me, her eyes flaring. When Rose glared at me like that, I couldn't lie. Mostly because I couldn't look her in the eye and lie.

"Because I've done it, too."

"Oh yeah, with who?"

I gulped. "With Edward," I said, quietly.

"Masen?" Alice spat out. "My _cousin_? The one that you kept on butting heads with? Who accused you of snooping in his house?"

"Yes, the one in the same," I said.

"Why would you do that with him?" Alice cried.

"It was_ his _suggestion!"

"I think the both of you have lost your fucking minds!" Rosalie cried. "What's in the water at Perry State?"

"I'm not crazy!" I cried. "I probably could have been talked out of it if I hadn't been alone in that giant room all night with the two of you banging headboards on either wall the whole time!"

"Hey, I love Jasper, I wasn't going to waste any time apart from him!" Alice cried. "We're a whole continent apart, normally!"

"You're going to have your whole married lives to have sex with them!" I cried. "And you couldn't spare a few nights to hang out with your poor, single friend in a strange city-"

"Hey, I did- the first night- we watched _Family Guy_ and _Spongebob_," Rose said.

"I don't remember _Spongebob_," I grumbled. "But I do remember the two of you basking in the glow of your diamond engagement rings."

"I take you with me to London, England, we have a picturesque Christmas that everybody's going to ask us about, and the moment you felt left out, you grabbed the first thing that would fuck you with your freaky 'interfemoral method-' how dare you repay my family's generosity like that, Bella!"

I gasped. "And to think when he called you spoiled, selfish, rotten and I stuck up for you!"

It was Alice's turn to gasp. Truly, this was the first time I ever remembered her ever bringing up the differences in our tax brackets- ever. I knew Esme and Carlisle treated me like one of their own. What had happened between Edward and I… it was a mistake out of grief from loss. Angela had never said what had driven her, but I looked over, and she was curled up in a ball, nervously rocking herself back and forth. She hated screaming and fighting. Her parents did it enough when nobody was looking.

"Edward's on his own planet. Everything revolves around him," Alice snapped back, defensively, glaring at me. "He's an expert on being selfish and spoiled!" I realized that I had hit Alice's pressure points- she hated being called any of those words. "He was just using you." Her eyes flashed in rage. I had never seen this side of Alice before- she was lashing out.

"Alice," I said. "I know what I did was stupid. I did it because I was lonely- I did it for a lot of reasons-"

"That's what they all say," Alice said. "Rose, I'm getting out of the car."

"Alice, no!" Rosalie cried as Alice opened up the car door. The car was moving slowly as Alice jumped out and ran towards the diner, dialing her cell phone.

"You couldn't _tell_ what was going in London?" I asked.

"No!" Rosalie said. "Oh, god, how's Ang doing?"

"I think she's catatonic," I said.

"No, I'm still here," Angela said, softly. "I've never _seen_ Alice act like that."

"Do you think… do you think she was being just a little bit protective of Edward?" Rosalie asked, uncertainly.

"Yeah," I admitted. Alice was probably going to tell Esme and Carlisle and Emmett what I had done. They'd all probably feel betrayed by me, now. I could say good-bye to being a part of their family ever again. When I thought about it, how could I have done what I did? Sleeping with my host's son was _very_disrespectful, even if it wasn't penetration. It was a betrayal of their trust that they could accept a girl they had never met before into their home. I had been told 'make yourself at home, my house is your house.' And this is what I had done. I understood Alice's words, now. It wasn't Esme and Carlisle's wealth, it was their accepting me as their own child when my own home was broken, and taking me to a foreign country I had always wanted to go to because they loved me. I had betrayed the Masens _and_ the Cullens.

I looked over at Angela, who was shaking and sobbing, wiping her eyes with her hand. I could only imagine how she felt.

Rosalie drove and drove until we ended up back my house with no pizza. Ang and I climbed the steps shakily and went up to my room, followed by Rosalie.


	17. Chapter 17

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. _**

* * *

While Rosalie and Angela slept, I couldn't. I climbed out of the bed and went downstairs in the living room. In my purse was the international calling card. I picked up the house phone and began dialing Edward's cell phone number.

"Hello?" he sounded wide-awake. Med school students. Never sleeping.

"Hi, Edward," I said, softly.

"Bella? What are you doing? It's four in the morning in Washington!"

"I know," I said. "Alice found out." I held back a sob.

"Shit," he muttered. "Why did you tell her?"

"I don't know," I said. A part of me needed vindication that I had been with someone like him. And that I had figured him out. "She's so mad right now."

"Do you know if she's told Esme and Carlisle, yet?"

"I don't know," I said. A sob escaped my chest. "She's only had six and half hours to calm down."

"How bad was it?"

"She… she had a complete melt down," I said. "I've never heard two friends say such horrible things to each other. Edward," another sob escaped my mouth. "What I did- I betrayed so many people. I'm a terrible person, I was thinking only of myself."

"Bella, don't say that."

"No, really," I said. "I was a stranger to your parents. And Esme and Carlisle vouched for my character because they love me like a daughter- and then, I slept with you. How can't that be a betrayal to all of them?"

"Bella, we're going to make this right," Edward promised.

"How?"

"I'll handle it. We just will. Don't worry."

I curled up on the couch after we hung up.

Around six, Angela was shaking me awake, my cell phone in her hand. She looked worried. "Bella, it's Esme," she said.

"Tell her I'm out," I whispered.

"At six in the morning?" she hissed. She shoved the phone in my direction. Rose came down the stairs behind her.

"Hello?" I asked, my heart thundering, feeling nauseous, my ears buzzing, my vision splotchy. Oh god, here it comes, Esme telling me she just couldn't see me in her life at all any more, how disappointed she was, how I had violated her entire family's trust-

"Oh Bella, honey, are you alright?" she sound frantic.

Wait a second.

"I'm fine," I said, quickly, without thinking. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Edward just called me and just confessed to me what he did on New Year's Eve," she started sobbing. "Oh Bella, why didn't you say anything?! Did you think I wouldn't believe you just because he's my nephew?"

"Esme, I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Why are you sorry? He said you were drunk," she said. "I'm the one who should be sorry- I wasn't paying attention to you I was so excited about both my kids getting engaged! Oh God, how could he do this to you? You have to go to hospital- I'll meet you there-"

"No!" I cried.

"Bella, do I have to spell out the laws for you?" Esme said, still sobbing, gently.

Was he insane? His whole life was about to get flushed down the toilet because he told Esme he raped me? "Esme, can you give me a moment, I need to make a phone call," I said, hanging up. I think I only had about two minutes left on my calling card.

"Bella?" Rosalie asked, looking worried.

"Edward called Esme and told her what happened, but he said that I was drunk. She's popping a gasket right now," I said.

"Was he sober?" Rosalie asked. Angela's eyes were wide.

"I can't remember," I said. His lips had tasted sweet… like grape juice. How much had he drunk that night? It was possible he hadn't been as drunk as me. "Probably not."

I dialed Edward's cell phone again. It rang a few times before he answered. "Edward- do you realize that Esme thinks you just confessed that you had sex with me while I was drunk and you weren't?" I asked.

"Oh shit."

"Were you drunk that night?"

"Yes, of course Bella, I was- why else do you think I'd have acted on my impulses?"

"You need to tell her that! We need to make it clear that it was a drunken mistake."

"I-"

The phone cut off. "Damnit!" I shrieked. I tried to call Esme's phone, but it was busy. I called back to the Cullen's house, but I got 'your number has been blocked' message. "Come on, we have to go over to the Cullen's."

I ran upstairs to put on a pair of shoes. Rosalie was right behind me. Downstairs, we got in her car with Angela, and she slammed on the gas to the Cullen's mansion on the outskirts of town.

There was a myriad of emotions in my throat- bile, anger, rage, remorse, disgust, self-pity, the list went on and on as we pulled up to the giant white house. I ran up to the door, still wearing my pajamas and tried to turn the doorknob. It wasn't open. I rang the doorbell several times in a row, frantically.

"Oh, Bella!" Esme cried, opening the door. It looked as if she had just gotten up, too- her hair was a mess, she didn't have on make-up and her eyes were bloodshot red. She clapped a hand to her mouth and hugged me with one arm, the one holding the phone.

"Esme, you've got it all wrong," I said, pushing her back. "It was a drunken mistake- on both our parts."

"Then why- why would he call me and tell me something like that?" she cried.

"He told me he'd fix it," I said.

"He called me and said he had interfemoral sex with you on New Year's Eve- whatever that is- and that you were really drunk and he hung up on me," Esme's tears began to fall again. "I just called my sister and told her something unforgivable about her son- she's never going to forgive me! She kept on saying, 'Edward's not capable of that! Not my son!' Don't you realize what you've done, Bella?"

"I'm sorry," I mouthed, feeling the tears flowing out of my eyes.

Carlisle appeared at the doorway, looking similarly disheveled. "We've spent the morning playing international phone tag with Liz, Tony and Edward. I've got the whole story, now," Carlisle said. "Why don't you girls come in from the rain and we can discuss this and calm down?"

I shrank back.

"Bella?" Carlisle asked.

"I've just violated your trust," I said. "I can never set foot in your house again!"

"Don't be so melodramatic. Come inside and let me tell you what Edward just told me," he said.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"I'll tell you if you come inside," Carlisle said.

Angela took my arm and warily guided me into the house.

"Alice!" Esme yelled at the bottom of the stairs.

"What?" a disembodied Alice yelled back groggily.

"Come downstairs, now!" Esme yelled.

"I'm sleeping!"

"NOW, or you're walking down the aisle in something off the rack!"

"Coming!" Alice whined. "Gah, talk about torture!"

I took a seat on the bright white couches, Angela and Rosalie sat on either side of me. Carlisle took the loveseat facing us, and Esme came in and sat down beside him, still drying her eyes. "Alice will be down in a minute," she said.

Alice stumbled into the living room, bleary-eyed, but when she saw me, she froze. "Bella and I aren't on speaking terms," she said, icily.

"We're not asking you to talk," Carlisle said. "We're just going to tell you what Edward's said."

"Oh please, I already know enough," Alice snarled. "How could you do this to our family?"

"Hear us out," Carlisle said. "Your cousin caused a bit of general chaos this morning because he didn't want to see Bella be excluded from the family." Alice went pale. "He told your mother he had sex with her while she was drunk."

"And he hung up. What do you think went through my mind?" Esme asked.

Alice's eyes flashed in anger in my direction. "See what you've done?" she snapped.

"Alice," Carlisle said. "Sit down." She took the recliner, eyeing me warily. I realized that was Carlisle's calm before the storm voice, once I had only heard a few times, but I'm sure Alice had heard a lot. "We've straightened this mess out, but the reason why Edward called your mother and told her was because he was worried about what would happen to Bella. He said to me, 'You can forgive family if they're truly repentant- because they're family, you're stuck with them. But a non-family member, not so much so. I'll take the brunt of the blame. Just don't disown her for this.'"

"Well," Esme said. "He obviously cares for Bella. Otherwise, he'd have let her take the fall."

"My question to you is- why did you do it, Bella?" Carlisle asked.

I had a great, eloquent answer planned out, but it left my head at that moment. "You forgot about us. It was like we weren't there after the two engagements happened."

"Don't try to throw this back on me!" Alice cried. "Just 'cause you're needy-"

"No, really," I interrupted. "Edward and I went to the movies that afternoon, and we watched a double feature. We were gone six hours. And when we got home, nobody noticed. So, when the New Year's celebration started, we stole a few bottles of cheap grocery-store wine out of the Masen's bar and began drinking and bitching about exes on the third floor. I threw up on one of the beds in our room and Edward took me downstairs for me to sleep it off in his room, because you and Rosalie had been sleeping in your fiancé's rooms. Instead of sleeping, we did… different things."

"That's so childish, Bella," Alice pouted.

"You went out for six hours in a foreign city and we didn't even notice you were gone?" Esme asked. "God, I didn't realize… I'm sorry."

"Oh mother, don't give into that!" Alice cried.

"It's true!" I cried. "You bounced up to Rose and asked her to be your maid of honor right in front of me!"

"So what? You're jealous that I picked my future sister-in-law as my maid of honor over you?" Alice snarled. "She's going to be the closest thing I'll ever have to sister, legally, what's wrong with that? Your excitement for my engagement died so fast after it happened."

"I've been one of your best friends for five years," I said, feeling a lump rising in my throat. "You've told me that the three of us were like your sisters when you left for New York. You could have at least asked me to be one of your bridesmaids."

"Oh for heaven's sake, Bella, you already were!" she cried.

"You never asked me!"

"I have to _ask_ you?"

"Yes. We've never agreed to anything," I said.

"Yeah, I'm kind of surprised you didn't ask me, either," Angela piped up.

"You have to tell people when you want something, sweetheart," Carlisle said. "People can't read your mind. We've been trying to tell you that since you were five. There's been a major breakdown in communication, here."

"I just thought that was a given," Alice said, looking crest-fallen. "We've been best friends for long enough that it seems like it's been forever. I didn't think I'd have to _ask_ you to be my bridesmaid, I just thought you'd just _know_ you already were. I'm not nearly as close to anybody in the world as you, Rose and Ang. Except for maybe Jasper."

"I understand now why Edward and Bella reached out to each other," Esme said, wiping her face with the back of her wrist.

"I'm sorry I got wrapped up in my London wedding," Rosalie said. "I'll have it here in the States, instead. I'll even let you pick out your dresses so they're not hideous."

"You don't have to give that up," I said.

Alice's face twitched. She couldn't hand over that much fashion control, I knew her. "I'll pick out colors that look good on all of you," she offered.

"So, is all forgiven?" Carlisle asked.

"Yeah," Angela said. "No more secrets."

"So does this mean you and Edward are an item?" Alice asked.

"No," I said. "I don't know what it means."

"Are you going to finally tell us what happened with James, yet?" Rosalie asked. James seemed like a distant memory. It all seemed so stupid, now, about James.

"Yeah," I said. "Actually."

_

* * *

**A/N- not quite the end... just yet. Trust me on that!**_


	18. Chapter 18

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. _**

* * *

After Carlisle and Esme left, I told Rose, Angela and Alice my experiences with James and how angry and upset I got about it all, but I didn't cry. I almost laughed at a few moments. When I told them about how James couldn't come and look at my face, they all gasped, and Rose cradled me in her arms. When I told them about his friend he brought over so he could watch me have sex with him, they all gasped.

"He told me I was too innocent when I said no," I said. "He didn't call or write me after that. I thought there was something wrong with me. It just… I kept on questioning if it was really as normal he had told me it was. He was trying to pressure me into doing something I wasn't comfortable doing. It was like… peer pressure all over again."

"Good," Angela said. "I'm not sure if this means I'm sexually active or not, but I just want to make sure my limits aren't weird."

"If you can't agree on a position, he should accept that and not make you feel inadequate," I said. "And I just decided… it's like he's a teenager who watched too many pornos and thinks that's the normal way to have sex. It's not. And it's funny, now. If I see him on campus, I'll probably laugh at him."

"School… ugh," Angela muttered, shivering.

"What are you going to do, Ang?" Alice asked.

"What I've wanted to do for a while, now," Angela said. "I'm gonna call Ben and tell him what happened and that I can't be with him. And I'll apologize, but that doesn't make it right… but at least I'll be doing the right thing."

"Where does that leave you and Jake?" I asked.

"I don't know. I'll call him tonight after I talk to Ben," she said. "I've just… I've been so dishonest with Ben in the past few weeks. He deserves somebody a little better than that. I'm probably going to cry the whole time. He's going to call me a big whore, probably."

"Well, whatever he does, don't take it heart," I said. "Remember: we're here. He'll be acting on revenge at first."

"Yeah… That and pure anger. But, I'd rather that be directed at me than Jacob," she said. "I never thought I'd be the one that did the cheating."

"Hey, Alice, why couldn't I get through to your house?" I asked.

"Oh, that," Alice said, blushing. "I blocked your house phone and your cell phone to my cell phone last night, and after I did that, it didn't feel like enough, so I blocked the house phone from your numbers, too. I'll take care of that right now." She got up and got her cell phone out.

"Alice, I'm sorry I told you that Edward said those things about you," I said. "He said that you were like that when you lived in Lake Forrest. He insinuated that you aren't anymore because Carlisle and Esme moved you to Forks."

"Oh," she said. "Well… It's true, I _was_ pretty snobby in Lake Forrest. I went back there a few years ago, and all the girls there that I used to be friends with are Stepford Wives in Training. I'm glad Dad brought me here- because I wouldn't be friends with the three of you if he hadn't."

"We are such cornballs," Rose said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, we are," I agreed.

"No mushy stuff at my wedding!" Rose declared.

* * *

Angela came over that afternoon, completely tear-stained and told me the truth that she did tell Ben, and he hung up on her, only to call her back a few minutes later to bitch her out. She wasn't quite sure where they stood, but she was pretty sure it was over.

We went to the bathroom and she splashed some cold water on her face.

We turned on _Romy and Michele's High School Reunion_ to cheer us both up.

In the middle of it, she got a phone call from Jacob. She went into the kitchen to tell him about her conversation with Ben. She cried a little bit more, but the conversation went on for a while, the tone was probably Jacob calming her down.

I paused the movie and started reading _Eat, Pray, Love_. She finally came back, her tears dried, eyes still red. "I'll be Okay." We settled in and watched the rest of the movie.

Right as Angela was leaving, I got a phone call from an international caller ID.

"Bella?" It was Edward.

"Hi," I said. "How is everything, now? Is your Mom okay?"

"Yeah, I just had to explain that I had inserted my mouth and made things sound really awful to Esme without meaning to. She cried and yelled at me for about an hour, and then forgave me. She pointed out that had you not gone over to the Cullen's to try to straighten this out, this might have turned into an entire international incident."

"I know," I said. "I think all's forgiven, now."

"I have to say," Edward began. "That I'm related to some truly remarkable people if they're willing to forgive all the mistakes we made so easily. I'm glad you're a part of it."

* * *

Ang, Rose, Alice and I went back to Seattle together. We saw Alice off on a flight to New York City with her parents, and then Rose said good-bye to Ang and me while we began our road trip to Spokane. Back at Perry, I began my job as RA again with Ang. Ben transferred to another front desk. Angela could understand why.

Edward and I emailed and occasionally talked on the phone.

Alice wanted me to come to New York on Spring Break to get sized at her seamstress's for my dress for Rose's wedding. I rolled my eyes. She promised that if Ang and I came, we'd have a fun week in the city. Rose didn't have the same week of spring break that I did.

James didn't bother me so much- when I saw him on campus, my physical reaction of seeming entertained by him bothered him so much that he called me. How I had ever compared Edward to James, I'd never know. The two of them were nothing alike. James was all about himself, whereas Edward was no stranger to sacrifice. I offered to buy James a blow up doll telling him I had met somebody who treated me much better than he ever did and hung up on him. It was kind of a lie, but he didn't have to know that Edward and I were just friends.

I decided not to date for a while. Six months or so. If I was dateless to Rose's wedding in June, that didn't matter. I could think of worse things.

I found some cheap flights to New York City, but Ang didn't want to go- she had been nursing a relationship with Jacob along. I wasn't too surprised when I got an email that had been CC to Rose and Alice that she had slept with him on a weekend back in Forks and she didn't want any of us to freak out. I couldn't blame her- Jake was like a brother to me, but otherwise, I could see how girls pretty much lost it around him. She wasn't ready to talk about it, yet, either.

Emmett and I talked about what happened between Edward and I. He got a little teary-eyed and apologized for not seeing what was coming- it had been pretty obvious. Emmett had always been a giant teddy bear. He had bitched out Edward over the phone and told him to keep his damn hands to himself, but after our conversation, he called back and apologized to him.

Come spring break, I packed up my shit and went to NYC to see Alice.

Alice's apartment in New York is so tiny- I ended up sleeping in her bed with her because the couch was so uncomfortable. Alice took me shopping and footed the bill and promised to pay for the extra suitcase of clothing I'd have to take back to Spokane.

While I napped one afternoon, there was a soft knock on the door. "Bella? There's somebody here to see you," Alice said.

"Hmm?" I asked, sitting up. Who in New York knew me?

"Hi, Bella."

I had to be dreaming. It sounded like Edward.

"Edward?" I cried. "What are you doing in New York? Shouldn't you be in England in Medical School?"

He was standing in the doorway, dark bags under his eyes. "Yeah," he said. "I took a direct flight to New York for the weekend. It's a surprise."

"I'll leave you two alone, just don't have sex in my bed," Alice said. "Interfemoral or otherwise." Edward blushed.

"I know," I said, sitting up. Alice shut the door behind Edward. We were alone. "Why did you come out here?" I asked

"To see you," he said. "I wanted to ask you if you would be my date to Rosalie and Emmett's wedding."

"As friends?"

"No… Bella, come now... we've already had sex… in some form or another."

"But… Edward, maybe that's not such a good idea. Everything between us is so complicated."

"Yeah, we broke a lot of boundaries," he said. "Where the line falls, I don't know."

I twisted the sheet in my hands. "Will you go out with us tonight?" I asked. "I don't want their wedding being our first date."

"That's a good idea," he said. "Weddings can be bloody emotional events."

Alice chaperoned us on our first date to the sushi restaurant and then left after dessert. We decided to go to Rockefeller Center to see the ice skating rink.

"If you ask me to ice skate, I'll never forgive you," I said.

"You want to go ice skating?" he asked. I smacked him on the shoulder and he grinned. "I can't ice skate for toffee, either."

"Good, I don't feel so stupid."

"So, Alice said you sorted thing out with James."

"Yeah, I realized what he wanted in a girlfriend was a porn star," I said. "I offered to buy him a blow-up doll and told him to never call me again."

"That's exactly it," he said, laughing. "That's what he wanted, now that I think about it."

"Yeah," I said. "So, what's happened between you and Tanya?"

"She's off in cloud cuckoo land," Edward said, shrugging. "I don't know. Somebody mentioned that she was moving back to the States. When I heard that, I just… I didn't really give a shit."

"So you're over her, now?" I asked.

"Yeah, you could say so," he said, patting my knee.

"Are you going to stay with Alice and me?" I asked, hopefully.

"No, Alice doesn't really have room for guests. I'm staying at the St. Regis," he said. "Would you like to see it?"

"Yes, very much," I said.

On the way to the St. Regis, he held my hand. "What the devil will my aunt think?" he asked.

"She knows that you care for me."

"I do," he admitted. "I love you. Why else would I have told Carlisle to blame me for what happened? I didn't want to see you hurt." I just nodded. "I know that's a big admission from me."

"It is," I said.

"Do you still want to come inside?"

"Yes," I said.

He took me into his room. He kissed me, gently. I kissed him, harder. I suddenly wasn't sure of what to do next. We were sober and I wasn't covered in puke. How did I go about this before? We were drunk, horny and groping each other.

He was so perfect. I couldn't believe I was here with him. His hands discovered the zipper under my left arm. I stood up so he could get the dress off of me. "I hardly got a chance to look at you that day," he said. "You are so beautiful."

"I love you, Edward," I said. He kissed my palm, smiling at my admission. I unbuttoned his shirt, slipping it off his shoulders. He allowed me to undress him. He was as beautiful as my memory held. He assisted me when I unhooked my bra and took the straps off my shoulders. I felt exposed and open. It was one of those moments where I could have been rejected, but I had to trust him. His lips found mine. There was always insecurity- James had manipulated me that way.

His fingers found my breasts as he kissed me. I felt a fingertip on my areola. I sighed. He dipped his head down to take one of them into his mouth. Wanting it, I got up on my knees, breaking contact, and straddled his hips. I stayed on my knees so my nipples were in his face. He took my nipple back into his mouth and caressed my butt softly as he sucked. I ran my fingers through his scalp, leaning my head back to enjoy the lightning bolts of pleasure shooting through my body. These simple sensations set my body on fire.

His fingers hooked into my waistband of my panties. I felt him pull them down while he sucked harder on my nipple, strumming it with his tongue so hard it almost hurt. I moaned, softly. He detached. "Bella, lay down," he said, softly. I laid down on the bed and he pulled my panties down my legs. It was completely sobering to be completely naked together. He kissed my toes.

In anticipation of what was about to happen, I felt hot arousal pooling between my legs. He climbed up my body, his prick hanging down like a weight, pressing kisses on the length of my legs, up towards my hip bones, then my stomach, my breasts. By then, his cock was close enough to touch- I reached down to grip it- the exterior felt smooth and searing, but underneath it felt like hot lead. His eyes closed and he inhaled, stilled on all fours, making him cry out. I squeezed downwards towards the tip, he cried out. "Bella!" he said, his eyes closing. He took my hand by the wrist, forcing me to let go. "Open your legs."

"What are you going to do?" I asked. He shushed me. I did as I was told. He picked up my leg and put it on his shoulder. Oh no… no, he wasn't going to… yes, he was. I closed my eyes as his mouth made contact. Nobody ever did this for me- ever. I groaned, softly, trying to sear the feeling into my brain. His tongue drew shapes and pulsed patterns over my clit, shockwaves shooting through my system. I groaned, my toes curling, and for the first time, I felt my body become paralyzed as I came, the waves of ecstasy were in control. It was only for a moment.

Edward sat up, patting the sensitive area of my lower stomach. I caught my breath, and then sighed. He wiped his chin. "Bella," he whispered. At that moment, I felt him push into me- it hurt. I took a deep breath and tried to accept it in. He stayed still until the pain went away and then we found our rhythm. My legs wrapped around his hips, bringing him in. He pulsed into me, causing my hips to vibrate. A low growl came out of his throat. I gasped in surprised. I wanted him further inside me. I opened my legs even more and he said my name like a chant.

He put his weight on me, his hand still between us, exploring my clit again. He rubbed in small circles and I squeezed harder with my legs so he had to pulse, and I held onto his shoulders. Crying out his name, my walls clamped around his base. It practically burned it felt so good. And then, I felt it again- I was paralyzed to ecstasy.

He was the only one to do that to me. My eyes locked into his. I understood what he was talking about that day before the Bollywood film festivals.

It ended. The paralysis ended when I was able to scratch my nails down his back, screaming his name.

He collapsed on top of me.

I brushed his hair back off of his forehead to help him cool off. I wanted to hold him and tell him he was wonderful. "I love you," I whispered.

"I love you, too."

_

* * *

**A/N- not quite the end... just yet. Trust me on that!**_


	19. Epilogue

**_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._**

**_I couldn't do EPOV after a certain point in the fic because it would have broken the storytelling POV, but I desperately wanted to after all the comments! So, here's the epilogue from Edward's POV._**

* * *

**EPOV**

I couldn't believe it was just a year ago I had met my Bella for the first time. Her hands were just as tiny as I remembered as she reached over to me, her beautiful hair was still up. I held her hands, kissing them. "Welcome back," I said. Despite the circles under her eyes, she grinned.

"You must be Edward," a man with Bella's eyes and a little bit of a gut came down the escalator behind her. "I'm Charlie Swan, Bella's father."

"Hello," I said, extending my hand.

"Nice to meet you," he said, although I could tell he was sizing me up. I could literally hear his thoughts- _I could take this British wannabe bastard in a match._

"And that's my Mom and Phil," Bella said, gesturing to the couple at the top of the escalator. "I'm so excited."

We talked twice a week over the phone and twice a day over instant messenger. I had signed up for a facebook account just to keep up with her. We were experts at converting time zones, too. She had visited me twice last summer between my internships in Africa, once in June and August, an emergency request on my behalf- because I couldn't bear the thought of going another six months without seeing her. It was difficult to travel outside London because of Uni for me- to be honest- it was difficult for both of us, since this was her last year of school. She was getting nervous about work after college or going to get a master's degree- but of course, I had a plan.

Renée and Phil introduced themselves.

"Edward?" Bella asked.

"Yes, love?"

"I missed you." I grinned- it was good to hear it out of her mouth, it validated how I felt, too.

"Are you hungry?" I asked as they claimed their bags.

"Yes, very," Charlie said.

I took them to a pub for their first dinner in London. Bella was much better with jet-lag than her parents, now. Renée was very talkative and outgoing- I knew my mom would like her. Charlie and Phil, for their age differences, weren't all that different. They weren't big talkers, more observers. I held Bella's hand under the table. She didn't know about my New Year's surprise for her, yet- I was going to propose to her. I had a ring wrapped up and in Mom and Dad's nightstand.

"This is so exciting, being in England for the first time! What are we going to do first, Bella?"

"The Tower of London was fun, but the lines were long," Bella said. "The London Eye was good, too."

"I can't wait!" Renée said.

I was relieved when we got the three of them to Mom and Dad's. "What a lovely house!" Renée cried when the cab pulled up. Mom had the electric candles in the windows and the tree lit up the front parlour. "I can't believe we're staying here!"

"Better than a hotel," Bella said. "We'll be over everyday as early as possible, I promise."

"Good," Renée said, hugging and kissing her. "I'm sure you want to get to bed as soon as possible, too."

Charlie cleared his throat, awkwardly.

We said hello to Mom and Dad, who hugged and kissed Bella. They knew what I was planning. For all intents and purposes, they loved her, even though I was properly good at shoving my foot in my mouth. We introduced them to Bella's parents and got them settled in before jet-lag played its part.

"Did you see Charlie's face when Renée mentioned going to bed?" Bella asked.

"I know. He already hates me," I said.

"He still entertains delusions that I'm still a virgin," Bella said, rolling her eyes. Her reactions were slower than usual. I didn't want her falling asleep just yet.

I was still living in the same flat. I wondered if it would be big enough for her. Her fingers were cold in my hand as we took the lift. She pressed a kiss to my lips. "I missed that."

"I missed you so much," I said. I pressed her against the door to my flat and kissed her warm mouth. She moaned, softly as I continued kissing her, running my fingers up and down the texture of her fitted blouse.

I unlocked the door behind her and backed her into my flat where I could unbutton that blasted top and take it off. She was wearing a dark blue bra underneath. God, she looked sensational in dark blue. I had always thought she was beautiful. And then, she tripped over her suitcase and stumbled backwards.

"Bella!" I cried.

"Ow," she muttered. "I hit my funny bone! Ow!" I helped her up and kissed her elbow better and returned to undressing her. I reached for the back of her bra strap, but she tapped my hands away. "No! I traveled all the way from Spokane to London in a matching bra and panties! This bra is uncomfortable and you're sure as hell going to see me in them!"

"Alright then," I said, kneeling, unbuttoning her trousers. She inhaled in anticipation as I saw the matching midnight blue scrap of fabric. I kissed the soft section of her stomach beneath her belly button before tugging it the rest of the way down. She had some beautiful, taut, pale skin and the very sight of it made me hard. "I've seen them- now can we go ahead and take the rest of it off?"

"No!" she cried. I kissed my way up her torso. She moaned softly. I hugged her to me to feel her curves pressed up against me, crushing her pouty lips against mine- I felt the flat of her hand against my prick.

"God, Bella!" I groaned. I didn't want to come on my trousers. "Let me at least get you to bed. It's been four months, don't rush me!"

"Sorry," she said. She unbuttoned my trousers as I pulled my top off- we weren't going to get to the bedroom. The kitchen was to my left- the kitchen table. Yes. I wanted to seat her on the edge of the worktop, spread her legs and just lick and suck her nipples and finger her tight little twat. I guided her in as she pulled my shorts down.

My cock simply sprang out.

"Nnn," a moan came out of her mouth. She sank to her knees. "Edward!" Her plump little lips enveloped my shaft completely.

Oh shit, her mouth felt like heaven. I wanted to come right down her throat and have her swallow, but not before I had a chance to properly shag her senseless. I ran my fingers through her hair and guided her up. "Bella," I whispered. I pulled her panties down and they revealed she was completely ready tonight.

"Up on the worktop, love," I said. I grappled with her limbs and lifted her up onto the worktop so that her bum was right on the edge. My fingers traced the outline of her delicate, puffy lips, causing a gasp out of her. I just wanted a taste… I dipped down and tongued her tiny, swollen clit. A sharp cry came out of her. It wasn't enough. I ran the flat of my tongue up her cunt all the way to her clit. I looked up, and she was leaning back on her hands behind herself, her head thrown back.

"Ungh! Edward!" she cried as I continued to draw patterns on her clit. "Yes, yes, yes!" I smacked the inside of her thigh slightly until her whole body vibrated and I felt her slit gush forth a thicker substance- her come was much better for lubrication. "Oh, Edward," she sighed between quick breaths. I was the man. I stood, wiping my mouth with my forearm.

"I'm not done with you, yet," I said, picking her up, lowering her onto my harden prick. It was so stiff it was resting against my stomach. Damnit if we hadn't gotten her bra off. She didn't have anything to push off of, so I turned and set her down on the table. Finally, I could push straight into her.

She was tighter than I remembered- all that time apart did it. I had to go slowly- she gasped in pain, I felt her toes on the top of my bum, curling, her head thrashing from side-to-side. I got into her, all the way to the hilt.

God, she felt so tight and velvety and _hot_. "Christ, Bella," I said.

"Edward, please, just- _move_," she groaned. I pulled back and thrust back in. We both cried out at the same time. I wasn't sure I'd last much longer.

She tugged down her bra cups and her cherry-red nipples were showing. Her fingers pinched and rolled them, her back arching, screaming. I bent down, taking her nipple into my mouth. I rolled it around, grazed it with my teeth, all while thrusting in and out of her continuously. Yes, I'm that coordinated.

"Yes, YES! Oh my God, Edward, YES!" she shouted. The walls were echoing.

"Fucking HELL, Bella, you're so TIGHT!" I shouted back. I drew back one last time and pushed into her so hard that she literally screamed. Her hands and feet flattened against the tabletop. She was paralyzed during her orgasm if she came hard enough. I had learned that about her last August. Her eyes were wide, unblinking. I gazed into them. I swear I could see her soul. "Isabella," I whispered.

Her orgasm came in short, soft pants, almost like gasps. I loved the way she came. I could feel the thick liquid of her coming again, against my prick while I shot wads of cum into her.

Her nails scratched down my back and I knew it was over.

"Oh God, Edward!" she sighed, still panting, trying to catch her breath. I pulled out of her before I lifted her sweaty upper torso up off the table. While the phone rang. Bloody Hell, I'd just let the machine get it. Who was calling me this late at night?

"My beautiful girl," I sighed, putting her head on my shoulder. It rested there like a dead weight. I listened to her breath for a moment and then realized I needed to take her bra off to help her breathe better. Her legs half-heartedly wrapped around my middle, and I lifted her off the table to take her back to the bedroom, but the machine went off.

"_Mr. Masen, I'll have you know that this is a residential building! I don't care what you're doing, how much fun you're having, there is a strict policy on loud noises after nine pm_!"

Bella and I both began laughing out of sheer exhaustion.

The phone continued to ring as we got to the bedroom. "_Mr, Masen, you have violated the building's noise stipulation, if you do it again, it may lead to eviction! I'm reporting you to the Resident's Association!"_

_"Hey there, Eddie, sounds like Bella's in town? I bet she's exhausted! Once you're done shagging her brains out, bring her past!"_

"Ah, Adam," I muttered, tucking Bella into bed. "I was wondering when we were going to hear from him."

"Sorry, I've got to get to sleep," she said. "I'm about to pass out."

"I know," I said, watching her beautiful chocolate-brown eyes close.

Within seconds, her breathing evened out before I switched off the lamp. I too, was feeling tired. Calls kept on filtering from my neighbors while I ran a shower. My legs were literally trembling, still.

After toweling off, I walked through the apartment, gathering our discarded clothes, moving her suitcase back into the bedroom. She was tucked up to her chest in blankets, only her head being visible. I climbed into the bed beside her and brushed a few locks of her hair out of her face. She stirred. "Mmm," she muttered. "Edward… I love you."

"I love you, too, Bella," I muttered softly. She rolled over on her side, and I spooned up beside her. I hated being apart from her.

I tried to go to sleep. She was dirty and sweaty and sticky… but I wanted her near me. We had been far apart for long enough.

I woke to Bella's delicate hands on my shoulder. "Edward," she said.

"Hmm?" I asked, lifting my head.

"You know you talk in your sleep, don't you?" she asked, smiling.

I smiled back. "Was it gibberish?"

"No," she said. "You mentioned something about an engagement ring."


End file.
